The National Elephant Center in Florida is providing expansive living quarters for older elephants.
Aging elephants now have a safe place to call home.
The National Elephant Center in Florida is providing expansive living quarters for older elephants. Essentially a sanctuary, it just opened earlier this year and it is supported by zoo donations.
Encompassing a total of 225-acres, the goals of the facility include offering shelter for elephants in need of a home and preserving the endangered species. The environment closely resembles elephants’ natural habitat and comfort zone.
It’s hoped that in the future, handlers at the sanctuary will help the animals reproduce. The executive director of the facility stated they “will never buy or sell an elephant.”
Instead they will live on the grounds with their elephant family. The sanctuary is a “Plan B” type of facility – a safe haven for elephants to stay in case conservation efforts in the wild don’t go as well as planned.
The property is a much needed safe-zone for elephants, as the illegal wildlife trade is booming. Described as the “fourth largest transnational organized crime”, poaching and various other killing techniques have been targeted directly towards elephants for their ivory.
