Page 14 - Ratel 2023 Summer

Ratel volume 50, issue number 2

has a dominant personality. So we are expecting him to be an excellent
mentor and dominant male in the future.

Sutton was born on May 5th, 2014, at West Midland Safari Park in
Worcestershire. Sutton is the youngest elephant at Noah’s Ark at nine
years old. He was the first calf to be born at West Midland Safari Park
and this was achieved through artificial insemination from a wild bull
elephant that resides in the Phinda Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal, South
Africa. Sutton is the first successful calf to be born via artificial insem-
ination in the UK. He had never been around another bull elephant
and, at nine years old, he is around the age where he would start being
displaced from his natal group and looking for other males for compan-
ionship and to learn from. His arrival at Noah’s Ark on May 9th 2023
is an important step into growing his confidence and learning bull
elephant etiquette, which will later become crucial social skills if/when
he becomes a breeding male in the future. Sutton is the smaller of the
three elephants at 7’3” (2.2m), and weighing around 2150kg. He is Figure 6. Protected contact tusk work.
identifiable by his two small tusks, his overall smaller size and his
playful and boisterous personality.

Elephant Training in Protected Contact

Elephant Eden is a protected contact facility and to facilitate this
approach to management has multiple dedicated training walls incorpo-
rated into the boundaries of the enclosure, both inside and out. In
addition there are separate indoor training stalls. This allows the ele-
phants and their keepers to remain in separate spaces, any contact being
through a protective barrier. This management style allows the dedicat-
ed keepers to work closely with the elephants through positive rein-
forcement and their voluntary participation, incorporating the use of
target sticks (to guide the elephants into different body positions -
Fig.10), a bridge (either verbal or a clicker), and food rewards. The
Elephant Eden training programme was designed with individual tai- Figure 7. Protected contact tail examination.
lored goals for each elephant, and all are trained on crucial routines,
including:

Blood Draws - Collecting blood from an elephant is an important
aspect of their care (Fig.8 and 9) - and an important routine for them
to participate in. With their cooperation, the elephant will present their
ear through specialised ear ports in the training wall to allow the keepers
to safely approach them. The keeper will then use a butterfly needle
to draw blood from a surface vein from the back of the ear, or from a
large vein in their rear leg, the blood being drawn into a vacuum tube.
This will then be sent to the veterinary lab. Training for and collecting
blood when necessary allows keepers and veterinary staff to run diag-
nostic blood work on a sick elephant while conducting annual blood
profiles allows us to monitor red and white blood cells and to check for
deficiencies.

Foot Care - The environment, mostly the substrates, that are provided
at Elephant Eden help support healthy joints and the natural wearing Figure 8. Protected contact ear desensitisation.
of an elephants pad and nails. Regular inspection of each foot is
undertaken to ensure that each pad and nail are in the best possible
condition. The pad can, on occasion, become overgrown or have
fissures that need to be trimmed; this will be done through assigned
foot ports in the training wall. The elephant will present its foot with
the guide of a target stick (Fig.11) and, using a tool often used with
horses (a hoof knife), keepers will take parts of the top layer off the pad
off to bring through live, fresh pad that will be more level with the rest
of the pad and nails (Fig.12). Foreign materials that become lodged in
fissures can also be removed. This is essentially assisting with the
wearing of the pad. In addition, the nails of an elephant will grow
beyond the foot, and so will need filing (Fig.13). Regular work such as
this prevents them walking directly on their nails which removes
pressure and the risk of cracks forming.

Sulcus Treatment - The sulcus is the area around a tusk, and at
Elephant Eden, routine cleaning of each sulcus is undertaken to ensure
Figure 9. Protected contact blood-draw.
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