Burma the elephant with her keepers Andrew and Corryn Coers. Photo: pricilla_northe
Auckland Zoo has said goodbye to New Zealand's last elephant, and with her, her keepers.
After about two-and-a-half years of planning and waiting, Burma has moved to her new home at Monarto Safari Park in South Australia.
Burma and her "human herd" - that is, her keepers - arrived last week, and she is settling in well, according to Auckland Zoo's Andrew Coers.
"Something that we're noticing here at the moment is that she's very much on alert with all the different noises because obviously [at Auckland Zoo] you've got all the white noise of all the different city noises that you have, whereas here it's so quiet that you get all these unusual animal noises or vehicle's noises that she's like 'what's that over there, what's this' and so we're having to support her through those," he said.
"But she's made leaps and bounds."
The 42-year-old Asian elephant will be in a quarantine area with a barn and a yard until mid-December. She has gone to join a herd - but she is the first one there.
"It's to Burma's benefit in a roundabout way because being first there she gets to get familiar with the property and the site."
The next elephant to arrive will be Permai, from Perth, who will probably come toward the end of January, then two more will join in March or April, from Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Later, a male elephant will join the herd from Perth.
So what happens if they do not get along?
"We've got four habitats within the precinct of elephants here so there's enough space to shift and juggle elephants if they don't get on," Coers says.
But it is not a scenario he is worried about, as they have all been around other elephants before. He said the introduction process would include watching the elephants for the right signs that they were ready to meet. As far as Burma was concerned, Coers was confident she would do just fine.
"She's such a gentle elephant. I, at this stage, touch wood, have no reservations about her introductions with the other cows.
"What we'd like to see is her form a relationship with Permai and then that will help, they'll be able to support each other."
Burma is loaded onto a plane for her trip across the Tasman. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
The keepers will be watching for signs like when the elephants "link trunks, touch each other, just sniff each other, all that sort of stuff are all good signs, and they'll start rumbling, and squeaking, and carrying on".
Coers is part of a team of five who joined Burma on her trip. He and his wife and colleague, Corryn Coers, have both known Burma for about 25 years, and two other trainers, Laurel Sandy and Odin Neil, for upwards of 15 years.
"We've all spent that time and I don't know what we'd do without her, which is why we're here."
For three of them, a return date is up in the air.
"We're just trying to suss that out at the moment, we just want to make sure that we're here to support Burma with the introduction of the other elephants coming and then we'll just kind of make some decision based from all of that really," he said.
While Coers was happy to see Burma in a new home with other elephants, the relocation was bittersweet.
"I wanted New Zealanders to have the opportunity to be in the presence of elephants ... it's not right keeping an elephant on its own and it's not right keeping one or two. They should be socialised with a bunch of cows.
"I'm still sad about her leaving New Zealand and us not being able to kind of achieve what we wanted to achieve in New Zealand."
On Burma's drive from the Adelaide airport to Monarto Safari Park, South Australians lined the road to get a glimpse of her.
"To have that reception was really special. I've got no doubt in my mind that the community is going to embrace her and they showed that on her arrival and I'm really grateful for that."
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