Save the Elephants!

In English-speaking countries, April 16th is known as Save the Elephant Day. While not a direct translation, we could call it “Mentsd meg az elefántokat nap” in Hungarian. This call to action is not unwarranted, as both Asian elephants and African savanna elephants are endangered, while the African forest elephant is critically endangered. Although the illegal ivory trade has been curtailed in many ways thanks to the Washington Convention (CITES), many elephants still fall victim to poachers, not to mention the conflicts between humans and elephants in areas where both seek to live and thrive.

At the Budapest Zoo, we have been caring for elephants since 1875—almost 150 years. Our first elephant was African, but since the 1890s, we have been housing Asian elephants. Beyond their importance in education, awareness-raising, and environmental education, our work with elephants also holds significant conservation value. Not only because several endangered Asian elephants have been born here over the past decade, but also because our veterinarians and keepers successfully fought off the dreaded elephant disease last year—elephant herpesvirus, which affected a young elephant named Samu. The knowledge and experience our team gained during those difficult weeks have been shared with the international zoo community working with elephants, further aiding the fight against this insidious disease, which is one of the leading causes of death among young Asian elephants, both in zoos and in the wild.