KEY POINTS:
Auckland Zoo has until March to report to the council on how it plans to develop an elephant herd in a bid to keep the species in New Zealand.
Kashin and Burma could become the last elephants in a New Zealand zoo as a result of Auckland City
Council budget cuts.
Modern captive animal practice dictates elephants must have companions, so if Kashin - who turned 40 on Sunday - died, Burma, 26, would have to go to an overseas zoo.
Although only middle-aged by elephant standards, Kashin has arthritis and other illnesses and her keepers believe she will be lucky to live to 50.
The zoo wants a herd of two bulls, who would need a separate enclosure, and up to eight females as part of a succession plan for Kashin.
It would need an extra 7000sq m, which would mean acquiring land from Western Springs reserve.
The council has not set aside the $5 million cost in its 10-year budget.
The female elephants' future was raised at a council meeting on Tuesday, where Mayor John Banks and his Citizens and Ratepayers allies were looking to cut spending by hundreds of millions of dollars during the next decade to hold rates to inflation.
They told various departments to start preparing draft 10-year plans which they will present at a combined committees meeting in March.
City Vision councillor and zoo board member Leila Boyle outlined the discussion from Tuesday's meeting to a zoo board meeting yesterday because three board members are from outside the council.
Ms Boyle said the zoo would have to present its capital and operational costs and a study on the options for a breeding herd.
"We told them to be as imaginative as possible regarding their options. All the money doesn't necessarily have to come from council.
"There will be a lot of businesses and independent people interested in helping out," she said.
The council will spend $15.3 million on a New Zealand precinct at the zoo and has deferred a $16.5 million Australasian precinct beyond 10 years.