Burma eating Morton Bay fig. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
Burma the elephant is unpacking her trunk after arriving in Australia following a flight across the ditch to her new home near Adelaide.
The 42-year-old Asian elephant had been on her own at Auckland Zoo for more than two years after her buddy Anjalee moved to Sydney to be part of a breeding programme.
Elephants are social creatures and need company, so the decision was made to move Burma to Monarto Safari Park where she will form a herd with four other elephants in a 12-hectare habitat.
Burma was flown to Australia on Tuesday with a vet and her keeper to help her settle in.
Auckland Zoo director Kevin Buley, who travelled with Burma to Australia, told Checkpoint, the zoo could not be happier about how smoothly the journey had gone.
Auckland Zoo's elephant Burma relocating to Australia
Since Auckland Zoo made the decision to end its elephant programme, Burma and her keepers had been planning for the move, Buley said.
"Burma coped with everything we threw at her throughout the trip, on the road, in the air, on the road again. For her to be doing so well today in her first full day in her new home, we just couldn't wish for more."
Burma with elephant team leader Andrew Coers and keepers Corryn Coers, Odin Neil and Laurel Sandy. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
While Burma was travelling to Australia, she was fully secured in case of any turbulence, he said.
Burma was the only passenger on the plane, Buley said, aside from the pilot and the staff from the zoo.
"She was in her travelling crate, which gives her a really a safe space. She's been trained in that crate for the last couple of years, so it's very familiar to her. She's happy to go in and out of it.
"When she went in it yesterday morning, it was all very familiar to her."
Burma had been drinking and eating normally throughout the journey, he said, which was a good indication she was coping well.
"Burma loves her food and she's still prepared to eat at even what we might perceive might be stressful times for her.
"She pretty much ate throughout the flight, before at the airport, on the flight itself, and then when she arrived. She's been eating and drinking normally this morning, she's had her wees and her poos and she's been exploring her habitat."
Burma the elephant being loaded onto a plane at Auckland Airport. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
The zoo was devastated Burma was no longer in New Zealand, Buley said, but they were happy with her new home in Australia.
"For an animal that's 42-years-old and an animal that's lived most of her life at Auckland Zoo, we're obviously devastated she's gone.
"But we couldn't be happier with her home, the excitement in South Australia here is palpable.
"Knowing she's going to come somewhere where she's going to be loved in the way that she was loved at Auckland, not just by our staff and our volunteers but our wider community, just softens the blow a little bit about her leaving."
There was a police escort during rush hour traffic in Auckland to get Burma to the airport, he said.
"That was brilliant because obviously she's never been on the motorway before. We didn't have the tunnel when she arrived at Auckland Zoo, so that was all new to her."
Burma in her new home at Monarto Safari Park in Australia. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
He said minimising the impact on her by getting her to the airport as quickly as possible was important.
"She also had a police escort at this end as well, so she really did have the royal treatment and it was described that her arrival here yesterday was similar to The Beatles in the 60s.
"Believe it or not, this hasn't been verified, but her flight, on flight radar, that tracking app, it was the most tracked flight in the world yesterday."
During the move, the staff were nervous for Burma and running on fumes, he said.
"She spent so long at the zoo. Many, many happy years, giving us very many happy memories and nobody really knew how she'd react on the day to the move."
Burma in her specially designed transport crate, leaving Auckland Zoo. Photo: Auckland Zoo / supplied
"But from the moment the crane lifted her crate up and onto the truck, she was as resilient as we could possibly have imagined and coped with everything in a way that that amazed us all."
The vets and the team of staff are happy and relieved he said, but emotional to see her go.
"There was a lot of tears yesterday from everybody that's been involved, you can't be associated and work with Burma for so many years and not have her touch you in the way that she touched so many people, so many millions of people over so many years.
"It has always has been about what's right for her, what's best for her and we've got to put our own feelings aside. That's what the team has been so bloody incredible about."
Staff had put aside their own personal lives to help move Burma across and settle her into her new home, he said.
"Yes, she's left us, but she's come to an amazing new home, and she will have the opportunity finally to be a part of a herd of elephants.
"We hoped it could be with us in New Zealand, that wasn't to be. So, we've got to do the right thing by her, which is bringing her to a safari park and setting up her home here."
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