For Immediate Release: April 22, 2015
(Jacksonville, FL) — Last week, two African elephants were transferred from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens to the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York.
The two female elephants, Moki and Chana, joined two elephants already at the zoo in Rochester.
Sadly, this is only the most recent move for the two elephants. Moki and Chana arrived in Jacksonville from the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas in October 2006. In return, the Jacksonville Zoo moved a different pair of elephants (“Missy” and “Kimba”) to Kansas. The swap was an (unsuccessful) experiment designed to encourage Moki and Chana to breed with a male elephant at the Jacksonville Zoo.
“Too often, zoos trade elephants like baseball cards, without the best interest of the individual elephant in mind,” said ARFF Campaigns Coordinator Nick Atwood. “The two Florida elephants have a future of harsh winters to look forward to. In Rochester, Moki and Chana will likely spend more time confined indoors, especially during the winter months.”
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