Elephants arrive at Sedgwick County Zoo (+videos)

Facing a throng of reporters Friday afternoon, Ryan Gulker stepped back, his eyes closed.

The deputy director of the Sedgwick County Zoo’s voice broke as he described the months of court battles and criticism leading up to the arrival of six new African elephants on Friday.

“It’s been a long, trying time to get them here,” he said. “I am confident in saying that if we did not move these animals here, they would not be alive.

“No matter what these animal-rights activists say, these animals would have been dead.”

Six elephants from Swaziland, intended to populate the zoo’s new elephant exhibit, arrived Friday on a 747 jet.

The plane, which left Africa on Thursday, brought 17 elephants to the United States. It dropped five off in Dallas early Friday morning before stopping in Wichita. The remaining six were taken to Omaha, destined for its Henry Doorly Zoo.

 Veterinarians aboard the overseas flight reported that the elephants were eating, drinking and, in some cases, sleeping, Dennis Pate, executive director and CEO of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, said in a statement.

A coalition of animal protection organizations – including Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, Performing Animal Welfare Society and captive-wildlife attorney Deborah Robinson – is demanding an inspection of the elephants by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

‘Pretty darn exciting’

None of the controversy mattered to the approximately 100 people camped out at the Sedgwick County Zoo, or the dozens gathered at the airport who came to witness the arrival of “our new residents,” as zoo spokeswoman Melissa Graham put it.

“This is just absolutely unbelievable,” Susan Weber said as she watched the painstaking process of transferring the elephants from the 747 to the flatbed trailers at the airport. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

Sierra Tinsley, 10, figures she will have the best story to share with her classmates at Pleasant Valley Elementary about what she did on spring break.

“I watched the elephants get off the plane,” she said proudly.

The elephants were contained within large crates, with narrow slits providing ventilation but not much of a view for the crowd gathered outside the fence.

“It’s pretty darn exciting that Wichita, Kansas, can get this many elephants,” one woman gushed to no one in particular.

About three hours after the plane landed, two semi-trucks loaded with three elephant crates each, rolled into the zoo parking lot.

Their scent followed.

Some people had camped out in the zoo’s parking lot since Thursday morning, awaiting the elephants’ arrival.

Catherine Nelson-Curtis, who lives in Loveland, Colo., drove to Wichita and waited roughly five hours to see the new elephants. She describes herself as an animal lover.

“This is an incredible day for Wichita,” she said. “These are coming straight from Africa – they’re not coming from another zoo. We’re seeing them come from their normal, natural habitat. We want to welcome them to Wichita.”

Elephants adjusting

The process of acclimating the elephants to their new habitat has begun.

The “north habitat” in the exhibit, which is still under construction, is capable of holding elephants, said Gulker, the zoo’s deputy director. He said the elephants have already begun eating in their new habitat.

“The elephants look great – they have done exceptionally well during their travels,” he said. “We have representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture here – they have to inspect them – and they’re very pleased.

“At this point we feel very happy.”

Adding elephants to the zoo has long been a priority, officials have said.

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums requires that accredited zoos featuring elephants must have at least three females, two males or three elephants of mixed gender by September.

Stephanie has been the zoo’s lone African elephant since her long-time companion Cinda died in late 2014.

The zoo had two options: Ship Stephanie to another zoo or bring in a breeding group. It decided to do the latter.

Zoo officials plan on introducing the new elephants to Stephanie slowly.

“We don’t know exactly how she’s going to react,” Gulker said. “Stephanie has been here for 42 years and she was only with one other elephant, so we’re going to be very cautious about it.

“We sure hope that she finds companionship there, but it’s not guaranteed.”

Criticism of the transfer

The delivery of the elephants drew criticism from animal protection organizations.

“Prioritizing dollars over elephant welfare is business as usual for Dallas Zoo Management,” Carney Anne Nasser, Animal Legal Defense Fund’s senior counsel for wildlife and regulatory affairs and a former assistant city attorney for the city of Dallas, said in a statement.

“Snatching elephants out of the wild and forcing them to live in tiny enclosures that deny them everything that is natural and important to them has nothing to do with legitimate conservation and everything to do with selling tickets.”

The Animal Protection Coalition opposed the sale and importation of the elephants in November when the permit application was before U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Jennifer Best, assistant director of Friends of Animals’ wildlife law program, has criticized the zoos’ lack of transparency about the elephant transfer, which was started Tuesday before a court had formally ruled on the lawsuit.

She said the focus of the lawsuit has shifted from stopping the import to making people aware of the physical and mental effects of confinement on elephants.

Gulker, the zoo’s deputy director, said it’s been “emotional” to be called an “animal abuser” by such organizations.

“We know we’re doing the right thing, and we’re being accused of … torturing elephants, food-depriving them, beating them, chaining them, a whole manner of lies and misinformation,” he said.

“People have accused us of just trying to sell more tickets. Well, yeah, we are trying to sell more tickets. What’s wrong with that? The more tickets we sell, the more conservation work we can do.”

Nelson-Curtis said she came prepared to see protesters at the zoo, though there were none visible when the elephants arrived.

“If there’s anybody out there who’s protesting this … we’re saving their lives because their habitat is being depleted, but moreover there’s an awful lot of poaching going on in Africa,” she said. “These animals could be killed if they weren’t taken out.”

Graham, the zoo’s spokeswoman, characterized the relocation effort as “part of an ongoing rescue mission to provide safe haven and a more secure future” for the elephants.

The $10.6 million “Elephants of the Zambezi River Valley” exhibit is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend at the Sedgwick County Zoo, though the new elephants most likely will be visible to zoo patrons walking by in the meantime.

“I probably would get in trouble for saying that, but at some point you’re going to be able to see elephants before it opens,” Gulker said. “We have to get them used to the exhibit and used to being out there. You’ll be able to see something.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Elephants arrive at Sedgwick County Zoo (+videos)."