The last of her species Further development at the Abidjan Zoo Report and photos: Ingo Schmidinger It s been now 14 months since my incredible experiences in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Such experiences were given by the development project at the National Zoo of Abidjan, in particular regarding their elephant keeping system and management. On the 23rd of February 2014, I had the chance to travel to the West African rainforest for the second time, thanks to the financial support of the Amnéville Zoo as well as the Association du Calao and its chairperson Sophie Decelle. The experience and impressions I gained from my last trip to Abidjan gave me a huge personal advantage this time. Thus made it easier for me to handle a complete different culture; in other words, I already had some bare expectations about what I was going to find there. However, you re not save from the daily unexpected situations, but without a certain kind of flexibility you couldn t manage such actions in such places anyway. And finally, after many hours of travelling - also caused by delayed flights - I could meet Richard Champion at the Abidjan airport late in the evening. Richard, as a zoologist and main character of the story, works temporary as the deputy director of the zoo since more than one year now. He offers an extensive assistance related to the zoo development. Together we were driving to his apartment and we arrived at 10 p.m., still 30 degrees and an extreme high humidity. Needless to say I enormously thank him for taking me in his apartment - quite in the center of the city and not far from the zoo - during my stay. This allowed us spending 24 hours a day discussing about the upcoming actions at the zoo for the next two weeks. After my short first night I arrived at the zoo and I was pleased about the warm welcome of the zoo staff. But I was even more surprised about what I found during a quick check of the zoo. Thanks to Richard s know-how and enthusiasm the changes within just one year were amazing. Enclosures, which showed the worst conditions before, turned into a keeping system, that appears modern and appropriate to the species now. They created not only shut-off capabilities within single enclosures and their well-thought animal specific design and diverse enrichment installations, but also a visitor-friendly environment with beautifully arranged paths with new signpostings of the enclosures. Walking on a "bridge of experience" over the crocodile compound or a small playground for children are just some examples.
Past Present Signpostings Education center Hyena livestock
Chimpanzee juveniles Crocodile compound (with the new passage) Old lion enclosure changed into new leopard enclosure Of course, one of the most important questions for me was the interim development of the welfare and the care of the female forest elephant. After the tour through the zoo the three elephant keepers, Marcelin, Charles and Jerome, were already expecting me to perform the target training of "Can", the only elephant at the zoo. The type of training that we started a bit more than one year ago and its manner of doing it changed within the last months, but the way they adapted their style also showed a handling of their elephant with pleasure and motivation. Needless to say that "Can" also enjoyed this new kind of enrichment and probably took the greatest profit out of it by gaining a positive change in her daily routine at the zoo.
We decided to train "Can" three times a day in order to develop her training programme. Apart from adding new commands, we also planned to water her as often as possible and introduced a daily washing routine. By training the command "trunk up", we had the possibility to control her tusks, molars and tongue. The daily trainings were scheduled at 9 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. in a way that the last two ones were watched by the visitors. Thus two keepers present the elephant s target training and every now and then its foot care, while the third keeper imparts general and interesting information about the elephant s biology related to its special anatomy, physiology and also its social life in the wild. This new visitor attraction then might be called "Meet the elephant". A great deal of our work consisted of clearing the future elephant enclosure located at the upper part of the zoo and getting rid of its excessive plant growth, and hence the reduction of the snake population still living in there (particularly the green mamba and the forest cobra). Besides, we got the chance to examine the new elephant enclosure completely for the first time after many years. Originally we intented to fire clear this area because of safety-related reasons, but finally we decided to treat the excessive plant growth with brushcutters due to temporal reasons and in deference to those animals housed next to the elephant enclosure. Indeed I had to pay for a few mechanical spare parts and the required fuel myself, but at least we could make a good progress within the following three days. Past Present Boundary of the new elephant enclosure Elephant outdoor exhibit
Pool After a long conversation with the keepers regarding the elephant care in general, we inspected the future elephant inside enclosure again, this time joint by the construction supervisor Said to deliberate upon special closing devices of the doors and further saftey aspects in respect of the management and handling of the elephant in the future. This talk turned into a typical subject, meaning how to construct as cheap, fast and variable as possible. But despite all, the new gained holding system provides a real good implementation, also concerning the security of keepers and visitors. Past Present Elephant inside enclosure Passage between inside and outside enclosure
Viewing platform in front of the elephant exhibit There were plenty of considerations about the relocation of "Can" into the new area. Unfortunately the given situation is not that simple in this case. The enclosure where she is kept in to date neither has any stabling nor any other stabling-like installations. There doesn t exist any entrance or exit (neither for vehicles nor for humans), thus there is no door, gate, pathway or similar facility. Also because of the lack of trees or posts but just a moat instead which surrounds the whole enclosure without any further barrier, "Can s" relocation itself needs to be carefully planned. One thing is for sure, that the safety of humans and animals must be our priority. Nevertheless one should not forget that usual transport devices like a crane, a truck, a box or accessories like chains, ropes or simple bracelets might not be available and besides not that easy to organize in this country (if available at all). In this sense, the good relationship with some of the embassies as well as with the UN on-site might be beneficial. In addition to the training of "Can" which, among other commands, includes "lifting her feet", she is not only going to be prepared for the transport, but also to get the possibility of starting foot care. I was astonished about the condition of her feet despite the fact that no treatment at all was made in her 22 living-years. Just a small shaping procedure was necessary. Soon all of the elephant keepers were deeply motivated while introduced to "Can s" foot care.
When the elephant didn t take center stage, support was required in many other numerous activities. Together with the volunteers Randel, Tony and Monica, we got active in things like enclosure design, relocations and animal enrichment. The crocodiles needed slopes to allow them coming out easier of their pool. Additionally their transport boxes had been organized and a pool for the giant tortoise was constructed. For the very first time in Abidjan s zoo history, frozen food was prepared and administered to the elephant and the chimpanzees. Likewise, the final preparation of the new mongoose enclosure had to be done before their relocation.
There is still so much to mention, but probably this might go beyond the scope. Therefore at this point yet a huge `thank-you to Richard Champion, who really demonstrated a gorgeous job not only due to his unbelievable power of endurance. Also I would love to thank the Amnéville Zoo and the Association du Calao for their financial support as well as my thanks to the European Elephant Group and of course to my wife Nuria Maldonado, without whose support it would had never been possible for me to assist such a project. I am pleased that I was permitted to add a small part to this exciting development of the Zoo of Abidjan.