An Auckland City committee has decided to spend $13 million building up the herd of elephants at Auckland Zoo.
The zoo only has two at the moment, but with the recent green-light given for an elephant breeding programme, soon there could be a family of ten pachyderm living in the middle of Auckland.
People love the chance to get up close and personal with the massive creatures. Even midweek, the elephant enclosure at Auckland Zoo is packed, with everyone keen to get a piece of the action.
The zoo's two elephants are Burma and 40-year-old Kashin. Kashin's health is continuing to deteriorate and it is expected that she will die in the next one to five years.
Twenty-six-year-old Burma is Kashin's mate. As she can't be left alone when Kashin dies, the council wants to bring in four of five more elephants to create a community and to breed together.
Without funding for the extra elephants, Burma would be sent to another zoo and leave Auckland Zoo with no elephants.
But today, the Auckland City Council's Finance and Strategy Committee decided not to leave Burma in the wilderness and voted to fund an entire breeding programme.