Jun 3, 4:09 PM
Zurich's Unlucky Elephants
Another dead calf at the city's zoo raises uncomfortable questions about its celebrated breeding program.
It is becoming a distressingly familiar ritual on Zürichberg. Once again, Zoo Zürich has announced the death of a young elephant, forcing management to answer questions that are growing more pointed with each loss. This time, a male calf born to the cow Indi was euthanized just one day after its birth because it was unable to stand on its own.
The newborn reportedly could not support itself on its hind legs, a fatal weakness for an animal of its size. After repeated failed attempts to get up, the zoo decided euthanasia was the most humane option. The mother, Indi, was allowed to say her farewells, a standard procedure for social animals, and reportedly returned to her routine after sensing something was wrong with her offspring.
This incident does not stand in isolation. It is the fifth elephant calf to die at the zoo since 2020, a statistic that is difficult to ignore. One newborn died in 2020 from a head injury thought to have been inflicted within the herd. Another, born in 2023, was not viable due to underdeveloped organs, while a five-month-old named Zali died last year from complications following a leg injury sustained during play.
Beyond the calves, the zoo’s elephant enclosure has seen other significant losses. In 2022, a devastating herpes virus, EEHV, claimed the lives of three young elephants in quick succession. An adult cow, Ceyla-Himali, had to be put down in 2024 after she could no longer stand due to persistent health issues. The list of the dead is growing uncomfortably long.
Faced with this grim tally, Zoo Director Severin Dressen expresses frustration. He points to the zoo’s excellent animal husbandry and medical teams, arguing that the deaths lack a common thread. He insists there is no discernible pattern, categorizing the events as a series of unrelated misfortunes: different mothers, different malformations, a tragic accident, and a viral outbreak for which there is no vaccine.
One might be forgiven for seeing a pattern where the director sees only bad luck. When a conservation program produces such a consistent record of mortality, calling them all “individual cases” begins to stretch credulity. Critics from animal welfare organizations have called for an end to the breeding program, a suggestion Dressen dismisses as unserious, noting that developmental defects are a part of nature.
Perhaps they are. But the purpose of a zoo, particularly one as well-funded and highly regarded as Zurich’s, is presumably to offer a managed environment that mitigates nature’s harshest realities. When the death toll continues to rise, one must ask at what point the noble goal of conservation begins to look like a series of failed, and tragic, experiments.
Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com
