As many of our wonderful visitors already know, we’ve made the extremely tough but right decision to move our lovely elephants to new homes for their long-term wellbeing.

We know so many of you have shared special moments with Burma and Anjalee over the years and it’s important to us that we bring you along on this journey with us. We recently sat down with our incredible elephant team leader Andrew Coers to discuss the complex reasons behind this important decision.

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Burma and Anjalee's move to new homes

Elephant team leader Andrew Coers discusses the complex reasons behind the important decision to move Burma and Anjalee to Australian zoos.

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Preparing Burma and Anjalee for their trans-Tasman travel

Our elephant team have been spending lots of time familiarising Burma and Anjalee with their individual travel crates, in preparation for their move. One of which was designed and made here in Auckland.

Earlier this year, we were able to manufacture the first elephant crate to ever be built in New Zealand, with the help of Stellar Projects. As elephant team leader Andrew shares, since then our incredible elephant team have been spending lots of time familiarising Burma and Anjalee with their individual travel crates, making these positive spaces where they feel comfortable and safe ahead of their future moves.   

Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 lockdowns have meant that Burma and Anjalee’s moves are now postponed until March/April 2022, giving you plenty of time to visit them before they leave.

We’ll be sharing more updates with you in the future, so please stay tuned to our social channels and website.