Dan Koehl

Dan Albert John Koehl (born 28 October 1959) is a French-Swedish zookeeper, elephant trainer, and stablemaster.[1][2][3][4]

Dan Koehl
Born
Dan Albert John Köhl

(1959-10-28) 28 October 1959
Stockholm, Sweden
NationalitySwedish
CitizenshipSweden
OccupationElephant trainer, programmer
Known forElephant Encyclopedia, Swedish Wikipedia pioneer and first admin
Parent(s)Gösta Albert Koehl (1916–1996)
Margot Fallai-Nordholm (1922–2006)
Websiteelephant.se
Dan Koehl with father Gösta Köhl outside Skansen Zoo, Stockholm 1964
Tiergarten Schönbrunn Director Dr.Helmut Pechlaner and Curator Dr. Kurt Kolar at Koehls farewell party in Tiergarten Schönbrunn (1998)
Dan Koehl in maharaja clothing at Cirkus Krone, Germany (2001).
Dan Koehl by morning training with king Carl XVI Gustaf of Swedens elephants Saonoi and Bua in Kolmården Wildlife Park 2008
Dan Koehl and Bonniface, an African savanna elephant bull, at Elephant Experience, Victoria Falls

An author of the Elephant Encyclopedia, he has been described as "one of Europe's most renowned experts on elephants".[5]

Early years

Dan Koehl was born 28 October 1959 in Stockholm, Sweden, the fifth child of parents Gösta Albert Köhl (1916–1996), Swedish engineer and Margot Nordholm (1922–2006).

Growing up in Mountain View, California, United States, and on Östermalm in Stockholm, Koehl became a passionate zoo visitor and aquarist, worked in aquarium and zoo-shops and studied zookeeping at Enskede gårds gymnasium. Besides subsequent studies at Stockholm University and Calle Flygare Teaterskola, Koehl began his career as commissioned shepherd for the Royal Herd of Sheep at Gärdet in Stockholm, and elephant-keeper at Circus Scott under famous elephant trainer Banda Vidane, before carrying out mahout apprenticeship in Sri Lanka and India,[6][7][8] and traditional German elephant management and training in Hanover Zoo and Hagenbecks Tierpark in Hamburg, by elephant chief trainer Karl Kock.

Professional career

Since the late 1970s, Dan Koehl has served as head elephant keeper, stable master (Equerry) and consultant at zoos, circuses and ranches around the world. European locations have included Skansen, Cirkus Scott, Hellabrunn Zoo (Munich), Borås Wildlife Park, Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Dresden Zoo, Zoolandia. Parco Natura Viva, Kolmården Wildlife Park, Circus Krone, Tiergarten Walding, Karlsruhe Zoo and Prague Zoo. While at Skansen, pending the departure of the stable's elephants "Nika" and "Shiva" to inferior living conditions abroad, he figured in a campaign that sparked nationwide debate over "Stockholm's beloved elephants". Despite described by Cynthia Moss in Elephant Memories as "among the best-cared-for and happiest I had ever seen in captivity", after much controversy, Skansen's elephants were shipped to Cricket Park, England, only to face premature death.[9][10][11]

At Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna 1998, Koehl was requested by Director Dr.Helmut Pechlaner to retrain the elephants and form a new elephant team, when the zoo was forced to change the team of elephant keepers and was faced with an aggressive campaign concerning its keeping of elephants. Likewise he assisted Director Dr.Herbert Lücker in Dresden Zoo 1999, when the zoo was heavily attacked by members of animal rights organisations, where he also trained elephants and coached their staff.[12]

At Kolmården Wildlife Park, Koehl was commissioned "royal head groom" for the management of the elephants "Boa" and "Saonoi" donated to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.[13] Since the 1990s worldwide locations have included Elephant Experience and Sondelani Game Lodge in Zimbabwe, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka, and Airavata Elephant Foundation and the elephant Sanctuary Kulen Elephant Forest, both latter ones in Cambodia.[14][15][16]

Dan Koehl has contributed to various animals and wildlife care and preservation foundations related especially to elephants, including Asian elephant victims of war at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.[17][18] and has since early nineties been a contributing Professional member to the Elephant Managers Association, [19] as Deputy of the Executive Secretary for the European Elephant Keepers and Managers Association (EEKMA) 1998–2008, he co-worked out the Elephant management safety guidelines (2002).[20][21] Koehl has served as board of director for Elefanten-Schutz Europa, as Chairperson for the Swedish organisation Defend the elephants [22] and the Swedish National Union of Aquaristic Societies (SARF), [23][24] and as Web developer created websites for enterprises like Tropicarium Kolmården, [25] and ImageWare Austria.[26]

Koehl has been residing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia since 2010.[27]

Research career

Parallel to lecturing in zoology, Dan Koehl has been documenting research about elephants, creating the website Elephant Encyclopedia and the Elephant Listserver (elephant-@listserver.wineasy.se), [28]both in 1995 as a collaboration with the Elephant Research Foundation and its founder Jeheskel Shoshani, [29] who assisted in creating a FAQ-section and zoological research at the website Elephant Encyclopedia.

Elephant Encyclopedia

The website Elephant Encyclopedia has been online since 1995.[30] Since 2006, it comprises the world's largest research database on individual elephants (and possibly on individual animals from a single species overall).[30][31] Cited by journalists, organisations and in scientific works,[32][33] it has notably figured in regard to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus and to evolution of cancer suppression.[34][35][36][37][38]

Ancestry

Dan Koehl is descended from the mayor in Hoenheim, outside Strasbourg in Alsace, France, master baker Jean-Michel Koehl (born 1791),[39] a descendant of Michel Koehl, who died in 1754 in Mertzwiller in Alsace. In addition, Koehl also descends on his paternal side from Nicolaus Laurenti Sidenius Angermannus, vicar in Sidensjö 1594-1630, and on his maternal side from Birger Nordholm, founding director of the Swedish National Tourist Office in New York City, co-founder and the first chairman of the European Travel Commission, honored with the Golden Key to the City of New York in 1987 as well as the road Nordholm Drive in Weston, Connecticut, and Carl Siegmund Friedrichs Lachs, who brewed the first Bavarian beer in Sweden, including for the royal court of Sweden, and owned three breweries in Sweden as well as Fred Lax's Columbus Ale in New York City.[40]


Ancestors of Dan Koehl[41]
8. Louis Xavier Joseph Koehl, fabricant and merchant in Strasbourg
4. Jules Albert Koehl, chef de cuisine in Stockholm
9. Caroline Gresse
2. Gösta Albert Köhl, chief engineer
10. Per Nordlander, chief mate in Norrland
5. Carolina Nordlander, garde manger in Stockholm
11. Caroline Gerdin
1. Dan Koehl
12. Gustaf Nordholm, cellar master in Stockholm
6. Birger Nordholm, director in New York City
13. Ellen Modig
3. Margot Rose Fallai-Nordholm
14. Carl Siegmund Friedrichs Lachs, brewmaster in Sweden and the United States
7. Alice Carlsson-Lachs
15. Fredrika Lorentzon
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gollark: Why would you expect that button to be working?

See also

References
  1. Moss, Cynthia (17 December 1991). "Elephant memories". www.elephant.se. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  2. "Elephant Keeper". September 23, 2008.
  3. "Kulen Elephant Forest". www.kulenforest.asia.
  4. "Kungens elefantskötare ska rädda Sambo". www.expressen.se.
  5. https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/kungens-elefantskotare-ska-radda-sambo/
  6. Menon, Ramesh (4 October 2013) [15 February 1990]. "Trichur springs to life with majestic elephants in their caparisoned glory". India Today.
  7. Kanalen i Österåker och Vaxholm 3 October 2018
  8. Kanalen i Österåker och Vaxholm 18 October 2018 - http://www.e-magin.se/paper/c5xn5n9z/paper/18#/paper/c5xn5n9z/18 (in Swedish)
  9. "Attendant On Hunger Strike In Zoo, Demands Better Conditions For Animals". AP NEWS.
  10. Sotarna (2014) by Ian Wachtmeister, p. 115-119 <https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789187769030/sotarna/>
  11. Nordqvist, Anders (October 23, 2015). "Skansen-elefanterna engagerade hela Sverige" – via www.svt.se.
  12. "Elephant Consultance references". www.elephant.se.
  13. "En ny elefant-kung". www.expressen.se.
  14. "Pěticípé hvězdy na pozadí". Zoo Praha.
  15. "Un Cambodge sans éléphants ? – Airavata Cambodia".
  16. Rethea, Pann. "The foundation aiming to preserve the Kingdom's elephant heritage | Phnom Penh Post". www.phnompenhpost.com.
  17. "Project "Lucky Sama" in Pinnawela, Sri Lanka: About the three legged elephant Sama". walter-kilian.de.
  18. "Elefant på Ljusterö torg | LjusteröPortalen". www.ljustero.se.
  19. Koehl, Dan. "Elephant Managers Association 2019 Annual report" (PDF). Elephant Managers Association (EMA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  20. "EEKMA Board". February 4, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04.
  21. https://elephantconservation.org/iefImages/2017/11/2006_Copenhagen_symposium.pdf
  22. Koehl, Dan. "Dan Koehl's Blog 2016". Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  23. Koehl, Dan. "Sveriges Akvarieföreningars Riksförbund SARF". Sveriges Akvarieföreningars Riksförbund (SARF). Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  24. Remissvar: Underlag för genomförande av EU-förordning om invasiva främmande arter
  25. Koehl, Dan. "Tropicarium Kolmarden". Sveriges Akvarieföreningars Riksförbund (SARF). Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  26. "ImageWare Austria". ImageWare Austria GmbH. Archived from the original on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  27. LinkedIn: Dan Koehl
  28. About Elephant, the official scholarly organ of the Elephant Interest Group Frequently Asked Questions About Elephants
  29. Elephant Listserver
  30. Elephant Encyclopedia
  31. "5 542". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). January 2, 2010.
  32. Saragusty, J.; Hermes, R.; Göritz, F.; Schmitt, D. L.; Hildebrandt, T. B. (2009). "Fecundity and population viability in female zoo elephants: Problems and possible solutions". Animal Reproduction Science. 115 (1–4): 247–54. doi:10.1016/j.anireprosci.2008.10.019. PMID 19058933. Retrieved 2020-04-12 – via Researchgate.net.
  33. "Birth statistics for African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants in human care: history and implications for elephant welfare" – via Semantic Scholar.
  34. Van Den Doel, P. B.; Prieto, V. R.; Van Rossum-Fikkert, S. E.; Schaftenaar, W.; Latimer, E.; Howard, L.; Chapman, S.; Masters, N.; Osterhaus, A. D.; Ling, P. D.; Dastjerdi, A.; Martina, B. (2015). "Europe PMC". BMC Veterinary Research. 11: 203. doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0522-6. PMC 4535388. PMID 26268467.
  35. Caulin, Aleah (July 1, 2014). "Peto's Paradox and the Evolution of CancerSuppression". repository.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  36. Dale, Robert H. I. "Birth statistics for African ( Loxodonta africana ) and Asian ( Elephas maximus ) elephants in human care: history and implications for elephant welfare". Zoo Biology: n/a. PMID 20391462 – via academia.edu.
  37. staff, Seattle Times (December 1, 2012). "How we did it". The Seattle Times.
  38. "GAJAH" (PDF). asesg.org. 2003. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  39. "Annuaire des Mairies et Villes de France". 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  40. Dan Koehl ancestry at Geni.com
  41. Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Descendants. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp. 153-154, 157-158, 160-162. ISBN 91-630-5964-9
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