Woodland Park Zoo elephant management staff performed an artificial insemination procedure on Chai, the zoo’s 31-year-old Asian elephant.
(Photo by Ric Brewer, Woodland Park Zoo.)
“This insemination comes at the recommendation of the world’s leading experts on elephant health and breeding, and is a continuation of Woodland Park Zoo’s longstanding commitment to preserving this endangered species,” said Dr. Nancy Hawkes, the zoo’s general curator, in a press release.
According to the release, the semen donor was a 12-year-old bull at Albuquerque Biological Park. That bull is considered genetically valuable because he has not yet sired any offspring.
The zoo will monitor Chai’s hormone levels closely over the next few months and hopes to verify a pregnancy by ultrasound in approximately 15 to 16 weeks. The gestation period of elephants is 22 months. If pregnant, Chai’s due date will be in early 2012. The last artificial insemination procedure on Chai was done in January 2008, which resulted in a pregnancy but unfortunately ended in a miscarriage during the first trimester.
The assisted reproduction procedure signals the zoo’s ongoing commitment to breeding Asian elephants, inspiring visitors to care about elephants and protecting elephants in the wild. The non-invasive technique uses new technology developed within the last decade. It offers a safe alternative for elephants (cows) to become pregnant without needing to travel to another institution and spend months away from their social group.
Chai gave birth to Hansa in 2000, but Hansa died six-and-a-half years later from a herpes virus. Chai became pregnant again from an insemination procedure in January 2008, but miscarried.
You can see the full press release here.
On a related note, animal rights advocates that have long called for the zoo to both end its breeding program and send its elephants to a sanctuary in Tennessee, plan to protest the zoo’s spring fundraiser in Fremont tonight.
43 responses so far ↓
1 Neighbor // Mar 11, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Please run more photos just like this!
2 poeky // Mar 11, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Our Mascot!
3 Aka // Mar 11, 2010 at 5:26 pm
@1 LOL. Just what we were thinking.
4 Coffee:Black // Mar 11, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Let the zoo rage begin! This conversation just seems to move from one article to the next.
5 Stupid Hippie // Mar 11, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Rape!
6 tw78 // Mar 11, 2010 at 8:24 pm
um….wow. thanks for the pic?
7 Caroline // Mar 11, 2010 at 9:20 pm
This is appalling! The zoo knows that any elephant calf born there is likely to die from the same herepesvirus that killed Hansa! Are these people insane or what?!
The zoo is being run by monsters. These people have no conscience at all. I’m sick to my stomach over these nasties who are running this zoo. This is a zoo being run by sadistic sociopaths.
8 Jack A // Mar 11, 2010 at 9:26 pm
I call upon the zoo’s administrators to resign in disgrace. This is just the last straw. They have no regard whatsoever for the lives of their animals. I’m just so sick of this rank exploitation. Deborah Jensen is ruthlessly ambitious and climbing the AZA corporate ladder. What a “rhymes with witch”.
9 Norman K // Mar 11, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I’ve been following this issue in detail. I used to work at the zoo. Nancy Hawkes is a sociopathic, certifiable baby elephant killer along with that sadistic sociopath, Bruce Bohmke and laughable pseudo zoo director, Deborah Jensen. They should all be run out of town on a rail, greased of course. Oh, and let’s not forget that sorry excuse for a head vet, Darin Collins, who never hesitates to throw zoo animals under the proverbial bus.
10 Alyne Fortgang // Mar 11, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Hansa died of herpes. Watoto tested positive for herpes in 2008. The zoo has no infection control in place. There is no cure for this painful and gruesome disease that almost always kills. Way to go, WPZ. Let’s hope Chai is done cycling – forever.
11 Tahomajim // Mar 11, 2010 at 10:18 pm
JA, Aly, Norm, Carol, et al. I support your right to state your opinion even though you’re all nuts.
I support leaving the elephants to the experts, not you half wits.
12 Whopper // Mar 11, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Do you have the photo of the sperm collection? Now that would be worth a thousand words.
13 Norman K // Mar 11, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The so-called “experts” at the zoo are the half wits. They couldn’t make a good decision if it hit them between the eyes. Habitual liars all. Scumbags. I’ve stood by and watched this bunch of goons ruin this zoo. I’m sick of it! They should all be fired.
14 Nancy F // Mar 11, 2010 at 10:26 pm
I am frankly appalled that the zoo inseminated Chai in spite of the fact that they are a herpes-infected zoo. We presented so many facts and evidence and statistics and science to them and they still did this despicable thing. I can only conclude that these people are morally bankrupt. I call upon them here and now to resign in disgrace. This is just plain unacceptable.
15 Coffee:Black // Mar 12, 2010 at 12:06 am
Norman, out of curiosity what is it that you used to do at the zoo when you worked there?
16 Claudine Erlandson // Mar 12, 2010 at 4:29 am
Not again! This is a disgrace for WPZ. Poor poor Chai…putting her at risk as with the death of her little Hansa when history repeats itself. It is truly disgusting. Why didn’t the zoo board and the Seattle city council put a stop to another tragedy in the making? It is unconscionable. Poor Chai indeed.
17 Perry // Mar 12, 2010 at 5:46 am
I’d like to join the club in calling for Deborah Jensen’s resignation and those of her cohorts. This really was a rape. And to post a photo of it is just sick. That poor elephant, isn’t she the same one who lost her calf? Creepy people.
18 Whopper // Mar 12, 2010 at 7:15 am
“Norman, out of curiosity what is it that you used to do at the zoo when you worked there?”
Sounds like a disgruntled ex-employee. Tell us Norman, why did you get fired?
19 Stupid Hippie // Mar 12, 2010 at 7:17 am
“This really was a rape”
You said it girl. No means no, even for pachyderms!
“to post a photo of it is just sick. ”
I agree, what a violation of her rights as a woman!
20 Miriam // Mar 12, 2010 at 9:43 am
I just heard about this atrocity! I’m floored! What is the matter with these people out at the zoo? It’s apparent they have no oversight going on from anyone. The zoo board and the city council just lets them do whatever they want no matter what it is. That’s why they just thumb their noses at the people of Seattle. “Just keep giving us your tax dollars and then get lost. We don’t need or want any public input. Just your cash!”
21 pioggia // Mar 12, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Take it down a notch folks. You may disagree with what the zoo is doing, but you diminish the understanding of rape’s atrocity when you toss the word around like this.
22 Greenlkgrl // Mar 12, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Very sad, considering they don’t have the means to care for the animals they have. Elephants need a lot more room than what they have at WPZ. It’s appalling.
23 Megan the Vegan // Mar 12, 2010 at 1:21 pm
More evidence that WPZ = Guantanamo on Phinney!
End torture!
Now!
24 Stupid Hippie // Mar 12, 2010 at 1:22 pm
This reminds me of the photos from Abu Ghraib….
25 outside the box // Mar 12, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Norman…well…what DID you get fired for? The rest of you zoo haters are hilarious…I mean, pathetic. Looking forward to seeing you out picketing! No??? Pioggia…great point..and I don’t think a loving couple who uses science to become pregnant would agree the female is being raped…pathetic I say. I place the over/under on this thread to be 100 posts!
26 Stupid Hippie // Mar 12, 2010 at 5:46 pm
“you diminish the understanding of rape’s atrocity”
Specist!
27 Tahomajim // Mar 12, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Are you all saying the female gender who is artificially inseminated is raped? That’s what’s being articulated here.
Such blogs and threads are really worthless.
Except for lonely people seeking their 15 minutes of fame.
I’ll write it one more time. If you feel the zoo elephants are mistreated you need to work with the zoo to change things.
AND that begins with showing respect for zoo officials, raising funds, and have a real plan to keep our elephants in Seattle.
Not one thread from “friends of WPZ elephants” addresses the proper path to achieve your goal.
Simple protesting, and writing blog threads are a waste of time.
How long will it take till you learn that?
28 Coffee:Black // Mar 13, 2010 at 3:12 am
Reading through these posts I am not sure if Megan the Vegan or Stupid Hippie’s posts are genuine of sarcastic. If they are legitimate beliefs, I am not sure what to say. It seems a little over the top to refer to artificial insemination, something that is part of the zoo’s mandate to preserve endangered species, as rape. Not to mention the “Guantanamo on Phinney” comments are just plane dumb, as far as I know they aren’t water boarding the elephants. Not to mention that from a historical standpoint, as far as that goes, the torture at Guantanamo (while still classified as torture) is the bare minimum of what other people have done to torture others in the past.
I am not saying that it is right in any way, but making someone stand in a strained position for hours on end is nothing compared to hanging them from the ceiling by their wrists with their hands behind their back until the muscle tissue in their shoulders tear from the weight of their own body. It is nothing compared to bamboo shoots being driven under fingernails or even wrapping wires around their ears and hooking the other end of those wires up to a car battery. I could go on and on listing tortures that have been done and are still being done in other countries around the world but I don’t think I have to. Human beings are far more cruel to each other than they are to the animals currently residing at the WPZ.
Please don’t make stupid comments like that again. As I wrote before, such responses are infantile and fueled by emotion and opinion rather than fact. Anyone who resorts to such things to win an argument is merely an internet troll who deserves to be ignored.
29 Jack A // Mar 13, 2010 at 6:49 am
That’s great. Comparing the torture of POW’s to the torture of the elephants. Which is worse? How ridiculous. These posts overwhelmingly condemn the zoo for what they just did to Chai.
The ‘experts’ at the zoo don’t exist. Their decisionmaking for the elephants is consistently bad. Remember how they sent Bamboo to Tacoma a few years ago? That was such a bad decision, they had to bring her back to Seattle a few months later. Way to go, WPZ boneheads. Now they’re trying to set Chai up for another tragedy. I think Norman is probably right. They do act like sociopaths. I don’t think sociopaths have a conscience. The only way to help the elephants is for them to leave the zoo so these clowns can’t hurt them anymore. There is no other proper solution.
30 Stupid Hippie // Mar 13, 2010 at 7:34 am
“Remember how they sent Bamboo to Tacoma a few years ago? That was such a bad decision”
Most people who go to Tacoma feel the same way.
31 Stupid Hippie // Mar 13, 2010 at 7:34 am
“as far as I know they aren’t water boarding the elephants”
Check out the penguin exhibit!
Stop torture.
Now!
32 Tahomajim // Mar 13, 2010 at 8:38 am
1- Again the so called “FoWPZ elephants” ignore or fail to address the proper solution to this issue.
2- I guess they think of themselves as elephant experts. I doubt they’ve ever touched a elephant, let alone cared for one.
3- Stupid Hippie and Megan the Vegan comment to rile people up. It works, and I like their input.
4- How many protesters attended the Fremont send our elephants to to Tennessee? I heard it was a whopping (sorry Whopper) 22 with 18 being women who are probably cat owners with cats confined to a apartment or house forced to eat canned food, and only sees a vet when the animal gets sick. Tisk, tisk, tisk…
33 Jack A // Mar 13, 2010 at 11:01 am
Well, TJ, what they do know is that Hansa is dead and any new calf is likely to die too since their African elephant is infected. I guess your “zoo experts” haven’t been able to figure that out yet. Duh…..
34 Tahomajim // Mar 13, 2010 at 6:43 pm
“Your/my comment is awaiting moderation.”
What in the Sam Hill is that all about?
I smell censorship….. BTW every word I’ve written on this thread is in The American Heritage dictionary of the English language. Check for yourself.
35 Jack A // Mar 14, 2010 at 7:19 am
Rant on, TJ. LOL.
36 Tahomajim // Mar 14, 2010 at 10:28 am
No rant yet, JA. LOL.
37 Doree // Mar 15, 2010 at 9:55 am
Tahomajim – We deleted your previous comment because you called someone a bad name. We’re not censoring and we’re not prudes, but we draw the line at name calling. (Our preschool-aged son has taught us a lot about having good manners.)
You guys can debate all you want, but if you start calling each other nasty names, we’ll delete those comments.
38 outside the box // Mar 15, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Hmmmmm whats a “nasty name”? I assume it really WASN’T…”goofy”, a “knucklehead”, an “idiot”….the problem with censorship is that it is arbitrary. I’m sure in this case it WAS nasty….but I’m just saying. I don’t let my 11 year old read these threads because they are usually NONSENSICAL!! P.S. It’s a lovely day for a walk at the Zoo!!
39 fred117 // Mar 16, 2010 at 10:26 am
This thread has been going on for almost a week and no one has mentioned that the elephant is STILL an endangered species. The habitat of Asian elephants is steadily shrinking. Regardless of what anyone thinks should be done with zoos or elephants the reality is that until the condition of elephants in their natural habitat improves, captive research and breeding will and should continue.
Sanctuaries are fine for retiring elephants but without research, do nothing to help preserve the species. Hansa’s loss was tragic but doesn’t the herpes virus that killed her occur in the wild? Hopefully there is some money for research on a vaccine as a result.
May I suggest that some of this well-intentioned energy go into helping preserve habitat in Asia and Africa, too? I agree that the best solution is to improve conditions “in situ”, but simply moving all elephants to a ranch in Tennessee isn’t the answer. Science and research needs to be part of the solution or extinction will resolve this issue for us.
40 Miriam // Mar 17, 2010 at 4:50 am
Fred, captive elephant breeding in zoos has nothing to do with elephant conservation. They are desperately trying to reverse the trend of a declining captive population by pursuing this reckless and very deadly breeding program. Most calves die in zoos before reaching maturity. You should ask yourself why. Elephants don’t do well in captivity. They have no problem reproducing in the wild. They have all kinds of problems doing so in captivity. Captivity is poison for elephants. They need to stop using “research”, “conservation” and “education” as their excuses. What zoos are doing to elephants has nothing to do with any of those. It has to do with the “take at the gate.” Totally self-serving.
41 Robert // Mar 17, 2010 at 6:26 am
To all you animal rights “experts” – what is the infant mortality rate in wild elephants? If you cite a number, cite a source. And what is the actual rate in zoos. Again cite a number (most, many, or a high number does not work) and cite a source.
You preach the evils of captive breeding, time to put your money where your mouth is.
42 fred117 // Mar 17, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Hi Miriam. While I respect your opinion about these animals that is exactly what it is – your opinion. The hard truth is that man is slowly killing the entire species by overpopulation and development in their own habitat. You may think the terms research, conservation and breeding are only buzzwords but to any one who really cares about the survival of the species, they are the key. By saying animals don’t do well in captivity you dismiss the California Condor and Grey Wolf. We learned to successfully breed these wild animals in captivity and managed to restore these animals to their natural habitat. The aim of learning to successfully breed these endangered animals is to insure their continued existence on this earth.
Anthropomorphizing the feelings of these animals may make you feel better but they do nothing to guarantee there will be elephants for your children to marvel at. The clock is ticking on the Asian Elephant and we must improve in research, conservation and breeding of these animals before it’s too late!
43 Tahomajim // Mar 17, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Right on Fred117.
I agree with you 100%.
Leave a Comment