Elephant Care Center #1

Elephant%20Care%20Center-1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Here are some photos taken recently at the “Elephant Care Center” that is part of the San Diego Zoo’s ELEPHANT ODYSSEY exhibit. The Zoo’s elephant keepers no longer have direct contact with their elephants and must work with them from behind a barrier or fence. The Elephant Care Center includes a complex of large, inter-connecting enclosures with motorized, radio-controlled doors. To receive medical treatment or basic maintenance, an elephant is coaxed into the complex with food and then locked into one of the enclosures. Here, one of the elephants is having the bottoms of its feet cleaned during a daily presentation put on for zoo visitors. Using voice commands, the keeper has instructed it to rest a foot on a crossbar. In addition to voice commands, the keepers also use some sort of whistle to communicate with the animals they are working with.