KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It's been around 21 years since Edie joined Zoo Knoxville, and as the herd begins to age, the zoo continues to prepare Edie for her move to the Elephant Sanctuary this fall.
“It was a decision that we made out of love for them,” said Sam Bieck, a zookeeper in Knoxville. “And for their best interests”
Jana, the other female in the herd at Zoo Knoxville, made the journey to Hohenwald a few months ago.
“It was a huge undertaking getting Jana to the sanctuary,” Bieck said. “It took months of training, and her having a lot of trust and faith in us.”
Edie is still getting acclimated to her crate. The team of elephant keepers is slowly introducing her to come inside the crate with treats. From there, they will transition to getting her comfortable putting “bracelets” on her feet.
“We don't want them making big movements while they're on the back of a truck on the highway because it can tip the entire thing over,” Bieck said. “So they do have to be kind of tethered up while they're on the trip. And that's a big thing to ask an animal to let you kind of tie it up and close it into a crate.”
The zoo says Edie’s personality is more timid than Jana, who is a more confident elephant. But, they said Edie’s making great progress.
“We're all very emotional about it, too,” Bieck said. “We cry every other day when she’s succeeding at training because we're proud of her, but it means she's leaving sooner.”
The three elephants in the herd have traveled or moved at some time in their lives. The zoo said they think the memory of being in a crate before might jog some memories for them.
“It felt like Jana kind of immediately knew like, 'Oh, okay, this is where I am going now,'” Bieck said.
Ultimately, Bieck said that as the elephants reach elderly age a space where they can roam, knock down trees and be social is what is best for them.
“There’s lots of opportunities for them as they age to still have other elephants around, because social interaction for them is really, really important," said Bieck.
As for Tonka, his transition will take a little while longer due to his size. The zoo will have to make a new crate large enough to transfer him to Hohenwald.
“They are actually actively building the bull barn at the sanctuary right now because they also don't have a space big enough for him,” Bieck said. “So it's really time-dependent on how quickly that all comes together.”