3 Toronto Zoo elephants ‘doing great’ at PAWS: councillor

It was a move met with resistance, skepticism, and controversy.

However, six months after the three Toronto Zoo elephants moved to the Performing Animals Welfare Society Sanctuary (PAWS) in California, a councillor who championed the move for almost two years said “they’re doing great.”

“[The elephants are] just roaming the many acres that are provided to them,” Coun. Michelle Berardinetti told 680News on Monday.

“They’re in mud wallows, they’re in the water, they’re eating from the branches from the trees and just acting like elephants, which is great to see.”

The tree elephants — Iringa, 44, Thika, 33, and Toka, 43 — started their 4,500-kilometre move from the Toronto Zoo on a cold and rainy night on Oct. 17, 2013.

They were transported in crates on flatbed trucks and arrived at the sanctuary, located near Sacramento, in the early evening on Oct. 20.

The move was met with lots of criticism, and Berardinetti said that despite what critics said, none of the fears people talked about have panned out.

“All of the fear mongering that was going on by the zoo staff and by the management was completely unfounded,” she said.

“They had a fantastic move, they’ve settled in extremely well, and they’re doing fantastic, as we knew that they would.”

She said thus far, none of the detractors have come forward to retract their statements or apologize about their criticism, though she said it would be nice if they did.

“A number of times we were told that our elephants don’t like to wander, they just stay in the barn. But yet, here they are, they’re wandering all over the many acres that they have there.”

“We were told that they wouldn’t go in the mud wallows, and yet they were in the mud wallow within days of arriving at the PAWS sanctuary,” she added.

City council voted in 2011 to send the three aging elephants to the sanctuary after animal rights advocates voiced concern for their welfare.

“We’re just pleased for the elephants — their health and their welfare, and knowing that we’ve done the best thing that we could do for their retirement,” Berardinetti said.

Berardinetti said she plans to visit the sanctuary later this year.

You can follow the progress of the elephants via @PAWSARK2000 and on its website.

Listen to the full interview with Coun. Berardinetti below:

With files from The Canadian Press

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