Push to Free Chained Elephants at Hanoi Zoo 

An employee cleans the enclosure an elephant that has its leg chained at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. (AFP)
An employee cleans the enclosure an elephant that has its leg chained at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. (AFP)
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Push to Free Chained Elephants at Hanoi Zoo 

An employee cleans the enclosure an elephant that has its leg chained at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. (AFP)
An employee cleans the enclosure an elephant that has its leg chained at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16, 2023. (AFP)

Legs in iron chains and unable to roam freely, the treatment of two elderly elephants at the Hanoi public zoo has drawn outrage in Vietnam, with animal rights groups demanding the pair be relocated.

The groups are calling for the two female elephants -- Thai and Banang -- to be released to a national park, and close to 70,000 people have signed an online petition in support.

State media has also covered the story widely in recent weeks.

On Wednesday morning, the pair's legs were in chains as zookeepers fed them grass and sugarcane, AFP journalists observed.

"The elephants are quite fierce. With a broken electric fence, we had to chain them," a zoo staff member told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

Staff said the two elephants were brought to the zoo from the country's south and central highlands in 2010 and 2014.

"They were not in the same herd. We had to do our best to help prevent fighting between them and ensure safety for carers," the zoo employee said, adding the animals were well cared for and given three meals a day.

But Animals Asia sent a letter to city authorities earlier this month urging the creatures be returned to the jungle at the Yok Don National Park in the country's central highlands.

"Elephants at the Hanoi zoo have been chained for a very long period," the group said in the letter.

"The health of the two elephants will deteriorate if they remain as they are."

Vietnam Animal Eyes, a group of local animal advocates, started a petition to remove the pair from the zoo at the beginning of August.

Zoo director Le Si Dung, however, has characterized the push to free the animals as "illogical", according to state media.

"The two elephants, aged 60-70 years old, have been at our zoo for more than 10 years... They will die if they are put back to nature as they do not know how to seek food or protect themselves," Dung was quoted as saying by the Dan Tri news site.

David Neale, animal welfare director at Animals Asia, told AFP the elephants were likely frustrated they couldn't carry out their natural behaviors.

"Yok Don National Park... has all of the elements which an elephant needs to be able to live well and live happily," he said.

Other animal lovers believe the zoo is not serving the elephants' best interests.

"This (Hanoi) zoo is like a jail," social media user Thanh Nguyen said.

"I was furious after my first visit there last year... I would never go back."

According to environmental groups, Vietnam's wild elephant population has fallen from around 2,000 in 1980 to about 100 in 2022.

The number of domesticated elephants has also declined significantly from about 600 in 1980 to 165 today.



Video Shows Dolphin Calf Birth and First Breath at Chicago Zoo

This photo provided by Brookfield Zoo Chicago,  bottlenose dolphins "Allie" with "Tapeko" are joined by the newly born calf at the Brookfield Zoo Chicago on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago via AP)
This photo provided by Brookfield Zoo Chicago, bottlenose dolphins "Allie" with "Tapeko" are joined by the newly born calf at the Brookfield Zoo Chicago on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago via AP)
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Video Shows Dolphin Calf Birth and First Breath at Chicago Zoo

This photo provided by Brookfield Zoo Chicago,  bottlenose dolphins "Allie" with "Tapeko" are joined by the newly born calf at the Brookfield Zoo Chicago on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago via AP)
This photo provided by Brookfield Zoo Chicago, bottlenose dolphins "Allie" with "Tapeko" are joined by the newly born calf at the Brookfield Zoo Chicago on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Brookfield Zoo Chicago via AP)

A bottlenose dolphin at a Chicago zoo gave birth to a calf early Saturday morning with the help of a fellow mom, in a successful birth recorded on video by zoo staff.

The dolphin calf was born at Brookfield Zoo Chicago early Saturday morning as a team of veterinarians monitored and cheered on the mom, a 38-year-old bottlenose dolphin named Allie.

“Push, push, push,” one observer can be heard shouting in video released by the zoo Saturday, as Allie swims around the tank, the calf’s little tail fins poking out below her own, The Associated Press reported.

Then the calf wriggles free and instinctively darts to the surface of the pool for its first breath. Also in the tank was an experienced mother dolphin named Tapeko, 43, who stayed close to Allie through her more than one hour of labor.

In the video, she can be seen following the calf as it heads to the surface, and staying with it as it takes that first breath.

It is natural for dolphins to look out for each other during a birth, zoo staff said.
“That’s very common both in free-ranging settings but also in aquaria,” said Brookfield Zoo Chicago Senior Veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Langan in a video statement. “It provides the mom extra protection and a little bit of extra help to help get the calf to the surface to help it breath in those couple minutes where she’s still having really strong contractions.”

In a written statement, zoo officials said early signs indicate that the calf is in good health. They estimate it weighs around 35 pounds (16 kilograms) and stretches nearly four feet in length (115-120 centimeters). That is about the weight and length of an adult golden retriever dog.

The zoo’s Seven Seas exhibit will be closed as the calf bonds with its mother and acclimates with other dolphins in its group.

As part of that bonding, the calf has already learned to slipstream, or draft alongside its mother so that it doesn’t have to work as hard to move. Veterinarians will monitor progress in nursing, swimming and other milestones particularly closely over the next 30 days.