Elephant trainer talks about chaining two elephants in Thu Le park

On July 17, Dan Tri electronic newspaper published an article: "Heart-stopping "beatings" by elephant and hippo nannies", about the work of animal caretakers at Hanoi Zoo (Thu Le Park).

Seeing images of elephants with aging-looking skin, many areas of silver skin, and scarred ears, many people expressed their sadness and wonder why the two elephants here have to live in chains.

Many readers ask, is elephant care safe nowadays? Why are elephants in zoos chained?

Some people have spoken out calling for the rescue of these elephants and hoping they will be released soon.

Quản tượng nói về việc xích chân hai chú voi trong công viên Thủ Lệ - 1 — Hanoi Zoo workers next to Banang elephants.

In response to these comments, a representative of the Hanoi Zoo's technical department told Dan Tri reporter that the two elephants were currently received by Hanoi Zoo in July 2010 (named Thai) and April 2014 (named Banang).

"The Thai elephant was received by the zoo from Military Region 9 and Banang was given to us by the people of Dak Lak four years later. The Hanoi Zoo received these two elephants for the purpose of raising and preserving wild animals," said a representative of the information technology department.

The reason the two elephants are restricted in their range of movement and activity with chains tied to their legs, according to this technical officer, is that when they were brought here, these two animals had very aggressive personalities. Therefore, at times, the mahout had to chain each individual in a different area to avoid conflicts.

"Before the zoo took over the Thai elephant, his legs were chained because he had a fierce personality. The two elephants at the zoo are not in the same herd, have the same origin, and show a fierce personality, so there were times when we had to chain them together to prevent them from fighting. Chaining the elephant is also to ensure the safety of the mahout and the staff who directly care for him," said the zoo's technical officer.

Quản tượng nói về việc xích chân hai chú voi trong công viên Thủ Lệ - 2 — A representative of the Hanoi Zoo said that the two elephants at Thu Le Park have aggressive personalities, so they must be chained together to avoid conflicts and fights.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Anh, head of the elephant-hippo breeding team, also explained that the characteristics of elephants are such that not all individuals are easy to tame.

In more than 20 years working at the zoo, the head of the team said he has witnessed many times when elephants suddenly exhibit aggressive behavior.

"Even though we have been taking care of these "guys" for many years, we cannot be sure that the elephants will not "attack" us. Every time we feed or clean the elephants, we tell each other to be extremely vigilant because just hearing strange noises or car horns on the street can startle the elephants and cause them to react impulsively," said Ngoc Anh.

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