Mara (elephant)

Mara is a female Asian elephant born in captivity in India that spent much of her life in circuses and zoos in Argentina.[1] In May 2020, she was released at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil in Mato Grosso.[2]

Life in captivity

Mara was born in captivity in India, between 1960 and 1970. She was bought by the German company Tierpark Hagenbeck, and after spending some time in a zoo in Germany, she was sold to a circus in Uruguay, and soon afterwards to the Tejedor family who were in the circus business in Argentina.[3][4] She spent much of her life travelling around the country's circuses, and suffers from a joint deformity from where she was chained on her front leg.[4]

In 1995, after many years travelling around Argentina with several circuses, she ended up in the Buenos Aires Zoo as a judicial deposit when the last circus she worked in, the Rodas Circus, went bankrupt.[3][4] At the same time, a legislative decree was passed in Argentina banning the exploitation of animals in circuses.[3] Mara, an Indian elephant, was housed alone, alternating outdoor time with two African elephants, the only other elephants at the facility.[3][4]

With the conversion of Buenos Aires Zoo into an "eco park" in 2016,[5] authorities decided to give up several animals.[2] Mara was accepted by Scott Blais who runs the Global Sanctuary for Elephants in Brazil.[2] In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, after a 2,700-kilometer journey, and five days, Mara arrived at the 1,133 hectare Matto Grosso Sanctuary in May 2020,[5] and vocalised with another elephant of her species, Rana.[6]

Mara weighs 5,500 kg,[1][5] is 5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 3 meters high.[1] Her usual diet is composed of pears, watermelons, carrots, alfalfa, bran and supplementary nutrition.[7]

References
  1. "Buenos Aires Times | Mara the elephant leaves Ecoparque for new home in Brazil". www.batimes.com.ar. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. Semanal, El País (2020-06-29). "Fotos: 'Mara', la odisea de una elefanta en la pandemia". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  3. "La famosa elefanta Mara llega finalmente a su nueva residencia en Brasil". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  4. "Mara the elephant to leave Argentina for Brazil sanctuary". AP NEWS. 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  5. ""Mara the rescued circus elephant retires to Brazil"". Bangkokpost.com.
  6. Clarín.com. "Por primera vez, la elefanta Mara se relacionó con otros ejemplares de su especie". www.clarin.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  7. Clarín.com. "El viaje de Mara: la elefanta ya llegó a Brasil, come frutas y verduras y sigue hasta su nueva casa con otros acompañantes". www.clarin.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
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