Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

A young elephant supposed to be transferred from Sri Lanka to Yerevan Zoo, Armenia

Born Free sent our Senior Wildlife Consultant, Ian Redmond, to Armenia the to see the condition of the elephants already at the Yerevan Zoo which is situated in Armenia, a mountainous country with severely cold winters.  Ian returned with several concerns about the facilities and the difficulties raised by the climate (temperatures usually fall below freezing on over 100 days of the year!). Although Yerevan Zoo has recently received a female from even worse conditions in Russia, the zoo management still expressed an intention to source more animals, even suggesting, worryingly, that they might set up a breeding herd.

The court case in Sri Lanka is ongoing, with a hearing at the end of February 2008 extending the injunction against the transfer until a further hearing in June. 

Update: July 2008
Apparently there had been a hearing scheduled for June at which an official document relating to the case was supposed to have been submitted. However at the time of the hearing the document was apparently not completed, so it was postponed until a later date (to be confirmed) for the document to be completed.

Therefore, for the moment it seems that Asokamala will be staying in Sri Lanka, and reports are that she has been returned to her herd at Pinnewala – having been separated from them in preparation for the transfer – so that she once again has daily contact with her mother and the rest of her (mostly adopted) family.

However the practice of sending elephants from Pinnewala to zoos like Yerevan has not been prevented, so it is important that the case continues in the hope of setting a precedent to prevent other unfortunate animals facing such a fate in the future.

More information about Born Free’s concerns about the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage

Click for more information Born Free's work with elephants and our Travellers' Animal Alert Campaign