The curtain is coming down for elephants at Auckland Zoo, as the last two pack their trunks for Australia.
The Zoo has confirmed Anjalee is being adopted by Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, while Burma is going to Australia Zoo in Queensland.
A decision was made to rehome the two remaining elephants when Auckland Zoo realised it was not possible to build a family herd for them here.
Elephants team leader Andrew Coers told Checkpoint it won't be damaging for Anjalee and Burma to go their separate ways.
"They've only known each other for five years. And in some ways for Anjalee being born at the orphanage – where we got her from in Sri Lanka – she was in and around elephants and they were coming and going all the time.
"Even meeting Burma for the first time, it wasn't really a big deal for Anjalee. Burma on the other hand, it was only the third elephant she had met.
"Burma's just that slightly bit different, where she's spent 30 years here on her own. It is going to be an adjustment for her compared to what it would be for Anjalee."
Coers said both facilities in Australia are ideal for the elephants.
"It is about the opportunity that Burma gets, but also having the support of her keepers with her, to allow her to really get the best chance to get in and form relationships with those other elephants.
"The management style is a slightly different between the two facilities, and it's a little bit harder to achieve that at Taronga Western Plains.
"Taronga western plains is only the facility that can offer a chance for Anjalee to be naturally bred and ultimately for her that's a bit of a priority at her age, to get her into position to actually breed, see if she can actually conceive, to then be a mother of her own.
"You'll often hear me say there's nothing more enriching for a female elephant than being a mother, just because anyone who's had kids would understand, they're an absolute handful. It's the same for an elephant, so that's where it keeps them all very busy.
"One of the other options we were really investing in to see if we could make work was actually sending Anjalee on a breeding holiday to Australia and bringing her back.
"From an elephant team point of view that was our preferred option. However, there are so many other things that were weighing in and so many associated risks with all of that.
"Ultimately, we don't want to do what zoos have done for many years, and let's just have one or two elephants coexisting in a paddock.
"Our intention all along with bringing Anjalee in was always to establish a family unit. Anjalee was meant to be accompanied with another female from Sri Lanka, but it got caught up in a court case.
"That female never came so we couldn't really see a path around how we could build that kind of family structure that's really important to us.
"We wanted to try and build a multi-generational group as you would see elephants out there in the wild, and it just was proving too difficult to achieve that here in New Zealand.
"I believe this is the last time you'll see elephants here in New Zealand. I think that's what's probably gutting for all of us.
"Our focus now is about setting up Burma and Anjalee for the best move, the smoothest move that we can do.
"However sitting in the back of my mind when the visitors come in, seeing the young kids really engaging with the elephants, just knowing this is the last generation of Kiwi kids that are going to see elephants in the flesh in New Zealand.
"And I think that's pretty difficult, coming and seeing every day. But we just cherish them while we've got them and spend as much time as we can with them while they're here."
The elephants will be flown to Australia in specifically designed crates, Coers said.
"Over the next few months we're going to get them conditioned to those crates, get them used to them, and try and really get them as comfortable to those areas as possible.
"The best we do that then the more smoother that transport can be."
