9 young elephants find new home in
Mexican zoo
June 11, 2012
PUEBLA, Mexico (AP)
— It was the stuff of a major film studio's next animation project: Nine
African baby elephants orphaned after their parents were poached, but then
miraculously rescued to a wild game park in Latin America. In the highlands of
central Mexico, pee wee pachyderms the size of Volkswagen Beetles could wander
around, wide-eyed as they munched on tortillas and donned sombreros in their
new home.
Except that the
government of Namibia, where they came from, says it didn't happen that way.
The nine elephants
that made a big media splash last week lumbering off a cargo plane, on their
way to a reserve in Puebla, were the result of a commercial sale. Despite
reports to the contrary, the creatures had never been truly, fully free. They
also aren't babies, but youngsters ranging from 4 to 10 years old, said Boas
Erkki, deputy director at the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
The elephants were
sold by the original owner, a farm, to the Namib Game Services private reserve
and their mothers were not poached, Erkki told The Associated Press on Monday.
The Namib Game Services sold the animals because they didn't have enough space
to keep them, he said.
Even without the
poachers, the elephants had a pretty good tale. They spent 24 hours in tight
quarters as they flew over the Atlantic in a chartered jet. They had stopovers
in Brazil and Chile. Then a two-hour truck drive to the city of Puebla before
they arrived at their new home at Africam Safari, a 900-acre wildlife preserve
whose name is a combination of Africa and the family name of the park's owner —
Frank Carlos Camacho.
The delivery was the
brainchild of Camacho, whose preserve is just south of Mexico City.
The unlikely African
acquisition began when Debbie Olson, director of the International Elephant
Foundation based outside Fort Worth, Texas, learned of nine young elephants in
Namibia that needed a new home. She put out the word to her board of directors,
which includes Camacho.
Camacho had always
planned to add a couple of elephants to his wildlife preserve, where ostriches,
lemurs, giraffes, zebras and monkeys roam in spacious containment areas to the
delight of visitors.
What appeared to be
a marketer's dream come true soon soured, when the government of Namibia
complained that news reports wrongly said the elephants were orphaned and
Camacho was rescuing them.
Camacho denies
telling journalists that the elephants' parents were killed by poachers. But he
did use the term "rescue" and that has proved controversial.
"In no way can
this export be considered to be a 'rescue' mission, nor were these elephants
orphans," said a Namibian government press release. "These young
elephants were in good condition at the time of leaving Namibia and were not at
risk of being destroyed by this Ministry."
Camacho said he
learned that the private preserve was offering up the animals because it was
too small to maintain them. In May, Camacho flew to central Namibia to check
out his little herd, and discovered they already had become a family.
The oldest elephant,
about 10, is the size of a minivan and had been nicknamed "Big Boy" —
clearly the leader of the pack. The youngest, "Chico," or
"Little Boy," is 4 years old. The pack included one other male and
six females.
The next step,
getting them to Mexico, turned out not to be that difficult. Camacho
successfully navigated through two government bureaucracies. He chartered a
plane big enough for his precious cargo.
Getting them onto
the plane was another matter.
"It would have
been much harder if they were adults," said Cecilia Geiger, a spokeswoman
for Africam Safari. The elephants obediently boarded on their own, with Big Boy
leading the smaller ones up a ramp and into the cargo bay, where the elephants
were put in big crates.
Camacho accompanied
them, listening to the elephant chatter as they crossed the Atlantic.
"We could all
feel that they had a special connection," he said.
During a reporter's
visit Friday, the herd looked happy enough, playing outside in a huddle near a
muddy watering pool, tossing sand with their skinny trunks, their white tusk
buds barely visible. Eventually, those buds could grow into 8-foot long tusks.
The elephants will grow two times their current size.
"Elephants can
do just fine on their own as long as people can substitute for other
elephants," said Ted Friend, professor of animal behavior at Texas A&M
University. In captivity, a human trainer usually takes on the necessary role
of the female elephant, he said.
As for the nine
elephants at Camacho's zoo, Friend sees no problem with their environment.
"It'll be a little different than what they would have had in the wild,
but in a situation where they're controlled by people, then I don't see a
problem."
While the Namibian government
said the elephants are not orphans, and did not grow up in the wild, their
origins remain a mystery. It isn't clear where the elephants' parents are, or
even if any of the nine are related.
There is only one
way to find out, Camacho said. He pointed at his elephants.
"You have to
ask them," he said.
___
Associated Press
writer Armando Montano reported this story in Puebla and Emoke Bebiak reported
from Johannesburg, South Africa. [The Examiner]
