Elephant Eden: Improving welfare for European elephants
 Asian elephants are under severe threat in the wild, as numbers fall to only 25,000 due to habitat loss, poaching and human/elephant conflict in parts of the world where 20% of the population live.
The endangered status of the Asian elephant is highlighted by comparison with the vulnerable Western Lowland Gorilla, which has a wild population of around 150,000, six times larger.
Elephant Eden is planned as a welfare-improving breeding sanctuary for elephants, and will become the largest of its kind in Europe at 20 acres (80,000 sq meters), recently enlarged from the initial 15 acre design. It will become a new home for Asian elephants from other European zoos, including those who are not getting on well in their present herds, and will allow them to express natural breeding behaviours.
We want people to learn about these wonderful creatures, be better informed of their plight, as well as conserve the healthiest possible elephants for the future.
We welcome you to explore these pages using the links on the left of this page, and consider how you can help support our efforts to improve conditions for elephants.
Europe's largest elephant sanctuary
With a 20 acre (80,000 sq meters) grazing environment proposed for the heart of the zoo and a modern indoor elephant house three times bigger than minimum zoo requirements; Elephant Eden is set to become a sanctuary of international importance.
Elephants are of crucial conservation status as wild populations suffer from habitat loss and poaching. By seeing healthy elephants in zoos, people can gain important knowledge of these highly specialised mammals, to the benefit of public education.
The illustration above (left) is an artist's impression of what Elephant Eden would look like at 15 acres (we have now increased size by 25% to 20 acres), showing a variety of carefully designed grazing areas, sand yards, bathing pools and enrichment stations. The elephant bathing pool (above right) will have space for several elephants to use at a time.
Issues currently faced by elephants in captivity
Unfortunately, elephants have, in general, not fared so well in captive environments to date, suffering from a number of health issues which have restricted the life span and vitality of some animals. Concerns about keeping elephants in zoos have been raised by charities including the RSPCA and have resulted in important research conducted by experts, including the 'Coalition for Captive Elephant Well being' and Bristol University.
Informed on these issues, Noah's Ark has spent several years researching elephant care, enclosure and house designs and have listened to the advice and experiences of elephant keepers from collections right across the UK in arranged visits.
We are also consulting international elephant expert Alan Roocroft, advisor to 40 elephant collections world-wide and author of several books.
Meeting the challenges for the benefit of zoo elephant well-being
Elephant Eden is the result of extensive thought and planning, to provide an important step forward in welfare for elephants. We are confident that elephants which aren't able to live in the wild and so need a captive home will be shown to thrive in this new environment - giving other parks encouragement to consider their own plans for improving conditions for these incredible creatures.
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