Zimbabwe: Exported Baby Elephants Distraught

Last year, more than 30 baby elephants were taken out of their natural habitats and with the blessings from the government and the Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Authority (ZimParks), were flown to China. They were then dispatched to various zoos throughout the Asian country and their lives were never the same again.

Pictures and a video were recently published on the Focusing on Wildlife website of some of the calves that are at the Hangzhou Safari Park. They were shown being kept behind bars and walking on concrete floors. The images were obtained by an animal welfare advocate named Chunmei Hu, the former general secretary of the Chinese Green Development and Endangered Species Fund. The video has since been reviewed by elephant experts, including co-founder of the Kenya-based Elephant Voices, Joyce Poole, who concluded that "their housing is totally unstimulating. They look like sad, locked-up little kids."

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