On July 17, Dan Tri online 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 skin that looks old, many areas of skin are silver, ears are scarred, many people expressed their sadness and wonder why the two elephants here have to live in chains.
Many readers ask, is the current care of elephants guaranteed? Why are elephants in zoos chained?
Some people have spoken out calling for the rescue of these elephants and hope that they will be released soon.
Hanoi Zoo workers next to Banang elephants.
In an exchange with Dan Tri reporters to respond to these comments, a representative of the Hanoi Zoo's technical department said that the two current elephants were 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 the Banang elephant was given to us by the people of Dak Lak 4 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 mahouts 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 fierce personalities, so there were times when we had to chain them together to prevent them from fighting. Chaining the elephants is also to ensure the safety of the mahouts and staff who directly care for them," said the zoo's technical officer.
A representative of the Hanoi Zoo said that the two elephants at Thu Le Park have aggressive personalities, so they have to 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.
Having worked at the zoo for more than 20 years, 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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