Youngest elephant calf in US to stay in Oregon zoo

Dec. 5, 2012, 4:22 PM UTC

By NIGEL DUARA, Associated Press

An Oregon zoo says it will retain possession of the country's newest baby elephant, a 300-pound female that hasn't yet been named, even though it won't own the animal.

A breeding contract gives ownership of the calf born Friday in Portland to a California for-profit elephant rental company, Have Trunk Will Travel. But the zoo said the elephant will live out her life within its walls.

"It was never in question for this calf," Oregon Zoo director Kim Smith said. "(She) was always going to live here."

The elephant is the second baby for Rose-Tu, a female that has spent her life in a zoo after being born into captivity, and Tusko, a male that is on long-term loan to the Oregon Zoo from Have Trunk Will Travel. A 2005 contract between the company and the zoo says the company takes ownership of the pair's second, fourth and sixth offspring after 30 days.

But Smith said Have Trunk Will Travel expressed no interest in taking the calf during negotiations with the zoo that started before the animal was born.

"Have Trunk Will Travel has no intention and has never had any intention of coming to take Rose-Tu's calf," company co-owner Kari Johnson said Tuesday in an email to The Associated Press. She added that her company "supports Oregon Zoo's vision for elephants and has great appreciation for the way they care for elephants."

A newborn female Asian elephant calf, shown here in the elephant maternity ward with her mother at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, will remain in the zoo'... — A newborn female Asian elephant calf, shown here in the elephant maternity ward with her mother at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, will remain in the zoo's possession based on an agreement with the elephant's owners prior to its birth.Today

Johnson added, "We could not be more excited about the birth of this new calf."

The Seattle Times on Monday night reported the details of the contract, the substance of which was mentioned in a 2011 story in The Oregonian.

Under the agreement, the zoo kept Rose-Tu's first calf, a male born in 2008 named Samudra. He pulled in record-breaking attendance in his first month on public view.

But zoo ownership contracts differ from typical contracts that define ownership, Association of Zoos and Aquariums spokesman Steven Feldman said. While ownership agreements are in place, the parties involved usually defer to the organization that can best care for the animal.

Both the Oregon Zoo and Have Trunk Will Travel are association members.

Under the agreement, a Perris, Calif., company called Have Trunk Will Travel will retain ownership of the newborn elephant, but the unnamed animal wil... — Under the agreement, a Perris, Calif., company called Have Trunk Will Travel will retain ownership of the newborn elephant, but the unnamed animal will live at the Oregon Zoo in Portland.Today

"It is a rather remarkable and unique system that you don't find in other lines of work," Feldman said. "That's just how it works."

Feldman said most koalas in the U.S., for instance, are owned by the San Diego Zoo, which loans them out to other zoos or organizations with several stipulations, including that the koalas get fresh eucalyptus. It's part of their "Species Survival Plan," something drawn up by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for 303 species.

Standards issued by the association range from the amount of shade and drinking water that should be made available to Asian elephants, to pad and nail trimming.

Five names for the calf were proposed by the zoo. The calf will be named in an online vote. Samudra and the new calf are the nation's first third-generation offspring born into captivity.