Riverbanks Zoo’s last elephant departing for a new home
Riverbanks Zoo’s lonely elephant is getting new friends, but she’ll be in a different city.
The zoo announced Thursday that Belle, Riverbank’s last elephant, will join a herd at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. Belle will join a herd of two other elephants, Brittany and Ruth, in Milwaukee.
Belle will live in a recently opened “state-of-the-art elephant habitat,” Riverbanks said, which includes a 20,000-square-foot indoor care center for the animals. The care center features a recreation room, individual stalls and “an expansive area for enrichment activities.”
The new habitat has two acres of outdoor yard that will give Belle and her new pachyderm pals “plenty of room to roam,” Riverbanks said.
Belle is 37 years old. She came to Riverbanks in 2001 from the Columbus Zoo, according to the zoo. She was among 13 African elephants that have lived at the zoo since 1973.
Riverbanks announced in June that the elephant habitat would be closing this fall following the transfer. The zoo worked with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums African Elephant Species Survival Plan to find a new herd for Belle.
Belle was left without a herd mate last week when the zoo’s eldest elephant, Robin, died.
“Robin had a lot of spunk and acted half her age,” John Davis, director of animal care and welfare at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, said. “At 49, she lived well beyond her life expectancy because of the tremendous care she received throughout her life. We love her, and we will miss her.”
The zoo will get rhinos to inhabit the space where the elephants lived.
An official with Riverbanks said elephants may return one day.
“It’s certainly not out of the question,” Davis said in a news release. “Ideally, we would like to one day manage a breeding group; however, housing male elephants is not an option in our current habitat. Additional space is required to separate males and females during non-breeding season when bulls tend to be solitary animals.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 10:40 AM.