Calf euthanized Zurich Zoo wants to continue breeding elephants despite deaths

A baby elephant was euthanized at Zurich Zoo because it was unable to survive - not the first time a calf has died. Nevertheless, the zoo wants to continue breeding elephants.

Zurich Zoo intends to continue breeding elephants in the future. The death of the baby elephant born on Monday had nothing to do with the zoo's husbandry, zoo director Severin Dressen told Radio SRF's "Regionaljournal Zürich-Schaffhausen". "Malformations are part of prenatal development. It is part of nature that not all animals develop as they should", said Dressen.

The male cub had made several vigorous attempts to stand up. "This is unusual," explained the zoo director. It was born with a malformation of the hind legs.

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"This is frustrating"

As the prognosis showed no prospect of the calf growing up without complications and being viable, the animal was euthanized on Tuesday. After the euthanasia, mother Indi was given the opportunity to say goodbye to her dead cub. The mother elephant had sensed "that something was wrong with her calf".

"This is frustrating," said Dressen. "We've had eight births since the elephant house opened, four of which went well and four of which didn't." These were, among other things, different malformations from different groups of elephants: "Individual cases with no causal connection."

Dressen therefore sees no pattern, which is why he is not questioning the keeping of the animals. Rationally, he cannot do anything about these deformities.

According to Dressen, it is not yet known why the animal was born with a deformity. He said: "The animal will go to the pathology department of the animal hospital and will be examined. Many tests will be carried out over the next few days and weeks to find out exactly what was wrong. From the outside, there were no obvious things that could have been seen."

"No benefit for species conservation"

Animal rights activists see things differently. They have repeatedly called on the zoo to stop breeding elephants. The zoo is failing to bring the young animals through, wrote the Fondation Franz Weber in a recent death case.

The zoo is investing millions in new buildings or the maintenance of enclosures in order to make captivity more bearable for the animals and more attractive to the public. This is of no benefit to species conservation.

Non-viable young animals were already born in 2020 and 2023. In 2020, a calf was also presumably trampled to death by other elephants in the group. In September 2025, a young animal died after injuring its leg while playing.

With material from Keystone-SDA.