HAMILTON, ONTARIO -- Stand next to an elephant and you quickly realize how gentle these massive creatures are. Charlie Gray, Elephant Director at the African Lion Safari in Hamilton, Canada says Asian Elephants are known for the their calm demeanors.
"They really give a sense of peacefulness. It is really rewarding for me just to be around them," Gray says.
Three Asian Elephants from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Targa, Mali, and Little Chuck, have set up a temporary home at the African Lion Safari. The elephants are on loan to the animal preserve while the Rosamond Gifford Zoo expands its own elephant preserve.
Gray says the elephants quickly made themselves at home here. "the good thing about the Syracuse Elephants was they just fit right into the herd. There was no transition period, it was very seamless," Gray says.
Asian Elephants are known to form very close social bonds, mother and daughters like Targa and Mali, will often live together their whole lives. Rosamond Gifford Zoo Director Chuck Doyle has spent more than thirty years working with Asian elephants, he says the animals often form strong attachments to humans and can be very curious. "They want to get to know you as much as you want to get to know them," Doyle says.
Asian Elephants are an endangered species. It is estimated there are less than 35,000 of the animals left living in the wild. The loss of habitat and poachers pose the two biggest threats to the elephants' existence.
African Lion Safari is one of the leading breeders of Asian Elephants in the world. Little Chuck is the 16th elephant born to be born here. Gray says one of the main goals of the preserve is to educate the public about the dangers threatening the elephants existence.
"We really feel that giving people an opportunity to get close and experience what an elephant looks like, smells like, feels like people will care more about wild elephants and their habitats and hopefully they can try and conserve elephants for future generations," Gray says.
