Pupy the elephant arrived at her new home in a sanctuary in Mato Grosso, Brazil, yesterday, following a 2,700km overland journey from a zoo converted into an ecological park in Argentina’s capital where she had spent 30 years in conditions criticized by activists.
The Buenos Aires mayor’s office in a statement said that the last elephant living in the Argentine city’s “Ecopark” arrived at her destination in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest “in perfect health.”
The 35-year-old African elephant was transported in a large iron crate with thick bars strapped to a truck, a mission for which she had been trained for several months. The truck was flanked by vans filled with caretakers and veterinarians.
Photo: AP
Pupy (pronounced POOH’-pee in Spanish) did not require sedation during the five-day journey to Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, the first refuge for elephants in Latin America located in the municipality of Chapadas Dos Guimaraes in Mato Gross state, Argentine authorities said.
Upon arriving at the sanctuary, her veterinary escorts opened the door for her, but Pupy was reluctant to leave the iron crate. They said they fed her sugarcane and watermelon, her favorite food, and gave her a bath to refresh her.
Pupy is to remain in an outdoor shed while she begins to adapt to her new home, without rushing.
“Everything will happen at her own pace,” the Buenos Aires mayor’s office said.
Buenos Aires in 2016 launched the transformation of its century-old urban zoo in Palermo neighborhood into an ecological park for the preservation of biodiversity and the conservation of native species.
As part of this process, more than 1,000 animals — including lions, tigers, bears and apes — have been relocated to other countries where they enjoy better living conditions.
An emblematic case was that of the orangutan Sandra, who now lives at the Great Ape Center in Wauchula, Florida, where she has adapted and has friends of her own species.
Pupy, who arrived at the Palermo zoo in 1993, is the latest animal transferred from the Buenos Aires ecological park.
Already enjoying the Brazil Elephant Sanctuary are five Asian elephants — including Mara, a former circus elephant that also ended up in the Argentine preserve’s enclosure and five years ago made the same highway trip to the refuge, where she now trudges at least 10km a day.
Pupy would not be reunited with Mara in her new home, “due to the natural differences between the two species,” officials said.
“The sanctuary is designed to keep the groups separate, respecting their biological and behavioral needs,” it said.
The Buenos Aires “Ecopark” would continue to house animals that, due to age or logistical impossibility, cannot be transferred to another habitat.
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
RSS