Center for Elephant Conservation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) is a 200-acre animal sanctuary for elephants in Florida, opened in 1995 as a home for retired circus animals. The CEC is solely sponsored by Feld Entertainment, the holding company which owns Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
The CEC is the largest Asian Elephant gene pool outside of Southeast Asia. It is a central facility for researchers of elephant behavior and conservation. The center loans both elephants and semen to zoos and cooperative breeding programs around the world. Between the traveling circuses and the center, the herd consists of more than 70 elephants. When the center opened, it was home to 27 elephants, including four studs and six babies. As of 2005, there have been 18 births at the center and, as of December 2005, three mares are now pregnant. The center has a higher birth rate than any zoo in North America.
Retired circus elephants living at the center have an average lifespan of up to 70 years, longer even than captive elephants in zoos, which live an average of 55 years or even wild elephants who typically live up to 45 years.
Except for the paddocks and barns, the facility is a largely undisturbed natural habitat, home to hundreds of native species.
[edit] Individual elephants
- Asia is the star elephant of the Red Tour.
Mable, born April 6th, 2006 is the most recent birth at the center (as of October 2006). Mable is a rare second generation offspring as both her mother, Shirley, and her father, Romeo, were also born at the Center in the mid 1990's. Mable's name was picked based on a national naming contest, and is named after Mable Ringling, the wife of one the founders of Ringling Brother's Circus.
- Mable (born April 2006)
- Irvin (born June 2005), named after Irvin Feld who bought the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1967 and restored it to profitability, Irvin's parents are Alana and Charlie.
- Aree (born Apr. 2005)
- P.T. (born May 2002)
- Asha (born Mar. 2002)
- Rudy (born Jan. 2002)
- Gunther (born Nov. 2001)
- Sara (born Apr. 2001)
