Sydney’s Taronga Zoo is celebrating the news that its 9-year-old Asian elephant is pregnant, but animal rights groups said that there was little conservation benefit in Thong Dee’s pregnancy and that the young elephant faced health risks. “We know that calves born in zoos have double the mortality rate in the wild, and this pregnancy will put both mother and calf at great risk,” siad the chief scientist with Australia’s Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (RSCPA).
Young Sydney elephant’s pregnancy sparks protests
Paris Maggs-Smith
Reuters