An African elephant from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is moving out on his own.
Vus’Musi, an eleven-year old Swaziland elephant, made the 5-hour drive from Escondido to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo last Thursday as part of a breeding loan recommended by the Species Survival program.
“Moosey,” as his keepers call him, entered his moving crate without any trouble. Keepers had been preparing him for the move for weeks; they continuously monitored him along the way and gave him treats during frequent stops.
The 7500-pound animal will lead a new herd of elephants, and animal care staff hope he will become a father.
“He’s all grown up,” Curtis Lehman, animal care supervisor at the Safari Park said in a statement. “Being a male, we knew that someday he’d probably move to another place and start a family of his own—and it turned out to be the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.”
To help him adjust to his new surroundings and new keepers, two of VusMusi’s Safari Park keepers will stay with him in Fresno. Once he is out of quarantine, VusMusi, which means “to build a family,” will have two new female herd members, Betts and Amy.
All three elephants will live in the new African Adventure habitat set to open October 15. The area will feature waterfalls, savannas, pools, and mud wallows. It will also be home to lions, cheetahs, rhinos and meerkats.
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Vus’Musi was born at the Safari Park in 2004. His parents were relocated from Swaziland to keep from being killed.
