The Asian elephant was spotted in a crate on the back of a truck-trailer on St Lukes Rd near the intersection with Great North Rd in Mt Albert this morning.
Burma is en route to her new home at South Australia’s Monarto Safari Park.
Auckland Zoo said last week: “On [Tuesday], the zoo’s entire focus is on minimising all disruptions and working to ensure everything goes as safely, smoothly and efficiently for Burma as possible.”
Burma the Asian elephant being transported in a crate on the back of a truck-trailer on St Lukes Rd in Mt Albert this morning. Photo / Tori Farrow
Monarto Safari Park said Burma’s safety was their key priority.
“While Burma is travelling with her trusted keepers, which will help to keep her calm and settled, it’s a long day for her and travelling is not something she’s used to,” the zoo said.
The park asked Adelaide residents to avoid the route Burma will take between the airport and Monarto, adding the public would not be able to see her while she’s in her crate.
The public will be able to see Burma in her new home from mid-December.
Auckland Zoo's last remaining Asian elephant, Burma, is heading to a new home across the Tasman. Photo / Alex Burton
South Australia Police are giving Burma a special police escort, the ABC said.
Burma is expected to land in Adelaide about 7.30pm, NZ time.
It marks the end of Burma’s 34 years as a Jafa. She was born in Myanmar (formerly Burma) in 1982 and spent her early years at a logging camp before coming to Auckland in 1990, when she was 8.
Today was not Burma’s first time out of the zoo’s walls. She dropped a large log on her electric fence, disabling it, and escaped, spending time in Western Springs Park and holding up motorists on Great North Rd in January 2004.
In 2020, Auckland Zoo announced its decision to end its elephant programme and move its two remaining elephants — Burma and Anjalee — to new homes with social, multi-elephant herds. Anjalee moved to Australia in 2022, leaving Burma alone here in limbo.
Asian elephants are extremely sociable and typically form groups of six or seven related females that are led by the oldest female, the matriarch, according to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
