In the wild, elephants depend on trees for shelter, shade and food. Trees also make handy scratching posts.
The next time you visit an elephant zoo exhibit, check to see whether trees are included, and I don't mean on the periphery where the elephant can't reach or have contact with them. Many elephant exhibits do not include trees because of the risk of damage. I've mentioned the asinine practice before. For example, Tina spent 35 years living in a dreary treeless yard that didn't even have grass. Hers was the most boring space imaginable and it was completely lacking in shade. If she needed shelter from the sun she had to go inside her dingy barn (something she was discouraged from doing during the day as it would deprive visitors who'd paid to see her). Likewise, the Hawthorn elephants were deprived of trees during the time John Cuneo owned them. He felt the elephants would "abuse" his "beloved" trees, so he wouldn't let them near a tree.
I found this little item today in the news. In lieu of shade trees, the Norfolk Virginia zoo has built a canopied misting station to keep their gals cool on summer days. It's a great contraption, one I'm sure the girls spend oodles of time in.
Elephant manager Jody Watkins said the girls are so excited about their $70,000 digs they’ve been coming inside late for dinner.
Other animals’ exhibits at the zoo have substantial shade from trees. But trees were not part of the original design of the elephant yard because of the damage elephants do to them.
I applaud the zoo for building the misting station and incorporating toys and ways to entertain and amuse their girls, but it seems ridiculous that elephants are deprived of trees by design. Ideally, an elephant habitat should not be a treeless "yard" but a richly diverse environment with hills and dales, tall grass, swimming pools (of the natural variety, not cement-bottomed atrocities), mud holes, and lots of trees. A misting station in the middle of all this would be nice, but hardly necessary.
The
North Carolina Zoo is an example of what can be achieved for elephants.
Here's an old photo of Jenny (now deceased) communing with a tree at The Elephant Sanctuary near Hohenwald, Tennessee, where elephants and trees don't need permission. Prior to her arrival at the sanctuary Jenny lived the typical life of a circus elephant: chained in a cramped trailer for up to 18 hours a day when she wasn't performing under the "big top."