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Source: ONE News -
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The future of the New Zealand's only circus elephant is in dispute as animal activists are calling for Jumbo to be retired claiming she is poorly treated.
However, the circus says there is nowhere for her to go.
Jumbo has entertained Kiwi children for over 30 years but now the African elephant is looking for a new home as her owner attempts to retire her.
"She is more Kiwi than what I am. She is so acclimatised over here I don't know how she would adapt to a different country or in a different situation," says owner Markus Loritz.
Loritz Circus bought Jumbo three years ago from her former owner of 29 years with the intention of retirement.
However, there is no zoo in New Zealand or Australia that will take her.
"If she went to the zoo I don't know how she would go because she is so used to the lifestyle. It would be quite a gruelling process to adapt her to the zoo. We would love to have the opportunity to do that," says Loritz.
Animal activists claim she is poorly treated with SAFE showing footage recently of Jumbo chained to her trailer.
"We have actually seen that the circus has been breaching the code of welfare on many occasions by keeping her confined to that small trailer during the day with a rope of a chain around her legs which is not allowed," says Hans Kriek, from SAFE.
Under the law an elephant must have a minimum exercise area of 500 square metres which is roughly the size of two tennis courts.
Jumbo also eats 200 to 300 kilo's of vegetables a day so, taking on the gentle giant is quite a task which is one of the reasons Jumbo is confined to a life on the road for now.
