She worked with him a lot to get Osh ready for a 46-hour-road one-way trip. He relocated in October to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, where he could have companionship. Osh was the only elephant in Oakland for the previous year.
He used to live with two females, but one passed away in March 2023, and the other, named Donna, transferred to the same elephant sanctuary in Tennessee a few months later so she could have more company.
Female elephants have more social needs than males, in the wild they are always part of a herd. But males need buddies, too. Wild male elephants are part of a herd when they’re young and then may spend some time alone or live with other males.
It took some time for the zoo to figure out what to do.
“We worked with the [Association of Zoos and Aquariums] on finding companionship for him. We were looking for younger bulls to potentially bring here, but there is nobody available for quite a few years, and we really don’t want him to be by himself,” Kinzley said.
“It’s very bittersweet because we love him dearly. But we know that it’s the best decision for him.”
Phil Martin, left, and Kyle Davilla, right, visit Osh’s habitat at the Oakland Zoo on Aug. 28, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)
A trend decades in the making
Osh’s move is part of a larger trend in zoo management that’s been building over recent decades.
About 40 zoos have closed their elephant exhibits since the early 90s, according to the nonprofit In Defense of Animals. This is a transition that has already played out in other countries, like the United Kingdom.
“When it comes to wild animal welfare, the U.S. typically lags several decades behind what occurs in the U.K.,” said Jake Veasy, behavior expert and founder and CEO of Care for the Rare, an organization that helps zoos maximize animal welfare.
“There, the industry has seen a wholesale shift of elephants from urban zoos in the U.K. to larger, more extensive wildlife parks. And I would anticipate that continues [in the U.S.] as a consolidation — an increase in the average number of elephants and a dramatic increase in the amount of space they have available.”
A decision to close an elephant exhibit can be met with mixed reactions from the public. Osh’s transfer was celebrated by the zoo and visitors and by Bay Area animal rights activists. However, other zoos facing pressure to close their elephant exhibits have been met with criticism, even from celebrities and local politicians.
“Zoos are very defensive in talking about this kind of thing, but I don’t think they necessarily should be,” Veasy said.
Kiyoka Hansen and her 1-year-old son, Kai, visit Osh’s habitat at the Oakland Zoo on Aug. 28, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)
Elephants need a lot of room, but although space is important, Veasy said, it gets a lot of attention because it’s easy to measure. It can be harder for zoos to provide the kind of social conditions they need.
“We have a lot of historic damage to undo,” Veasy said. Elephants are a highly social species and should live in multigenerational herds. But “with the way elephants have been managed, over the past decades, that herd structure is absent.”
In the longer term, if elephants are to persist in captive environments and be well cared for, he said, “a key component is rebuilding that herd structure because it’s so crucial to their welfare.”
Elephants are more social animals than humans, he believes. We have family groups, but we regularly live separate from our extended family with very little distress.
“For elephants, a matriarchal herd is a much tighter bond,” Veasy said. “Separation of those individuals can be very distressing to those elephants. That hasn’t had the attention it’s warranted for many years.”
Osh, the 30-year-old male African elephant, eats tree branches in his habitat at the Oakland Zoo on Aug. 28, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)
Elephants not leaving zoos entirely
Not all zoos are bidding farewell to their elephants, though. Dan Ashe, President and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said some are choosing to expand their elephant enclosures.
“We see both sides,” Ashe said. “We see some members deciding that elephants are no longer in their future and some facilities investing heavily in elephants.”
Several zoos, including San Diego and Cincinnati, are developing new large elephant habitats, costing tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago is planning to bring elephants back within the next 15 years.
Osh settling in
Late last month, Osh arrived in Tennessee and, by all accounts, is settling in nicely. The sanctuary is 3,060 acres in size and currently holds 12 other elephants, with room to accept more.
“We have a natural forest environment, and on day one, Osh went out, and he knocked down a tree,” said Scott Hooper, the elephant bull program manager at the sanctuary. “Which is great. It’s a really natural behavior for elephants.”
