Zoo says baby elephant will stay in Portland, Ore.

PORTLAND, Ore. An Oregon zoo says it will retain possession of the country's newest baby elephant, a 300-pound female that hasn't yet been named, even though it won't own the animal.

A breeding contract gives ownership of the calf born Friday in Portland to a California for-profit elephant rental company, Have Trunk Will Travel. But the zoo said the elephant will live out her life within its walls.

"It was never in question for this calf," Oregon Zoo director Kim Smith said. "(She) was always going to live here."

The elephant is the second baby for Rose-Tu, a female that has spent her life in a zoo after being born into captivity, and Tusko, a male that is on long-term loan to the Oregon Zoo from Have Trunk Will Travel. A 2005 contract between the company and the zoo says the company takes ownership of the pair's second, fourth and sixth offspring after 30 days.

But Smith said Have Trunk Will Travel expressed no interest in taking the calf during negotiations with the zoo that started before the animal was born.

Have Trunk Will Travel issued a statement Tuesday night, which CBS affiliate KOIN Portland reported: "Have Trunk Will Travel has no intention and has never had any intention of coming to take Rose-Tu's calf," the statement read. "Have Trunk Will Travel supports Oregon Zoo's vision for elephants and has great appreciation for the way they care for elephants. We are very proud of the significant contribution we have made together for Asian elephants. We could not be more excited about the birth of this new calf."

Have Trunk Will Travel co-owner Kari Johnson told The Seattle Times, "I can't wait to hug her."

The newspaper on Monday night reported the details of the contract, the substance of which was mentioned in a 2011 story in The Oregonian.

Under the agreement, the zoo kept Rose-Tu's first calf, a male born in 2008 named Samudra. He pulled in record-breaking attendance in his first month on public view.

But zoo ownership contracts differ from typical contracts that define ownership, Association of Zoos and Aquariums spokesman Steven Feldman said. While ownership agreements are in place, the parties involved usually defer to the organization that can best care for the animal.

Both the Oregon Zoo and Have Trunk Will Travel are association members.

"It is a rather remarkable and unique system that you don't find in other lines of work," Feldman said. "That's just how it works."

Feldman said most koalas in the U.S., for instance, are owned by the San Diego Zoo, which loans them out to other zoos or organizations with several stipulations, including that the koalas get fresh eucalyptus. It's part of their "Species Survival Plan," something drawn up by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for 303 species.

Standards issued by the association range from the amount of shade and drinking water that should be made available to Asian elephants, to pad and nail trimming.

Five names for the calf were proposed by the zoo. The calf will be named in an online vote. Samudra and the new calf are the nation's first third-generation offspring born into captivity.

[InFavorofCircus]

Thank goodness for the patience and fortitude of Have Trunk Will Travel and others like them, who work with folks like those at the Oregon ZOO and others to try to save the asian elephant from extinction. I read the comments of animal "wrongists" like "Lorraine1231231" (above)who recite from the animal rights playbooks and never look beyond the propaganda! Elephants will become extinct if left to such mis-informed people. What is wrong with elephants being entertaining...as such, they are also educating people as to the importance of conservation efforts. What is wrong with Have Trunk Will Travel creating the revenue via entertainment contracts to sustain the elephants? Sounds like a good idea to me.

[NZPEACE]

I can't understand why these people are allowed to continue owning these elephants. Can't the SPCA do something about it? or can't the Zoo take the the company to court?
Hopefully, all goes well for the baby elephant but my concern is, how about the elephants in their current care and that are going into their care??? Sickening!!!

[Lorraine1231231]

Imagine being ripped from your family when you were a baby and sold into slavery? Imagine the fear, agony, heartache and confusion this would cause you and your family? Well, that is exactly what happened to all of the elephants currently "owned" by Have Trunk Will Travel. Yes, Rosie, Tai, Dixie, Kitty and Becky were all torn from their elephant families in the wilds of Asia, beat into submission, and then shipped to a foreign land to perform in circuses, give people rides at fairs, weddings and zoos, and forced to perform in television and movies. If this were not bad enough, imagine your life being filled with continual beatings with sharp, metal bullhooks (which resemble fire place pokers) to keep you under control, electrocution by electric prods which cause you pain and suffering, and being chained by one front leg and one back leg the majority of your life in a barn or the back of a truck when your nature is to travel hundreds of miles a year? And thankfully, when someone exposes your torment and suffering by your captors the Johnson's and the Smith's, as is shown in the video released by Animal Defenders International, your captors lie and say the video was "heavily edited" and profess their undying love for you and you are forced to remain with your abusers due to lack of animal protection laws. Imagine how that must feel? Like the worst nightmare imaginable. Well, every day, the elephants at Have Trunk Will Travel have to live with their abusers and have no voice and no say in what they do. The Johnson's and their cronies are perpetual liars and abusers and always try to make those who try and expose the truth appear as "wackos." But the behind the scenes video at the Have Trunk Will Travel facility in Perris, California shows the truth-the elephants are nothing but modern day slaves being forced into submission for entertainment and money.

[InFavorofCircus]

Sorry Lorraine but baby elephants are not usually "ripped from their familys...." (Unless in danger) by folks like those at Have Trunk Will Travel. Neither are they beaten into submission. Thats not even logical to assume. You've been watching too many animal wrongists propaganda videos. I've been around folks like the Johnsons for decades. Elephants are not beaten or abused. But I have seen the abuse (such as yours) heaped upon the Johnsons and others. I will not tolerate it.

[canislupus16]

So this is sorta like an illegal immigrant's child being born here.

[superdem1]

No, the mother was born here, too. So it's sorta like your kid being born here. Assuming, of course, that you are a legal citizen.

[sickofbull]

Keep your hugs, lady. She needs her mother, not you.