Animal welfare group warns against elephant transfer to Australia

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2005

SYDNEY (AFP) — An animal welfare group warned against the transfer of endangered Asian elephants to zoos in Australia and New Zealand after one developed behavioural problems while awaiting shipment in Thailand.

A female elephant, one of nine elephants being held at a pre-quarantine station in Thailand, had become aggressive and had to be removed from the group, said Rebecca Brand of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"What happens if they get here and they start showing other signs of aggression that puts the animal at risk and puts the keepers at great risk? Keepers are killed all over the world every year," Brand told AFP on Monday.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has been campaigning against the elephants being imported into Australia...