Zurich Zoo in Switzerland

1. 1944-11: visitor Bertha Walt fatal attack by Chang II. Then on a stormy November morning three years ago, zoo keepers saw blood on the floor of the pit. In Chang's straw bed they found a bloodied human hand and toe. The horrified keepers and police learned the unbelievable truth. Chang had devoured a young woman; he had swallowed her clothes, her hat, and even her large handbag. † Bertha Walt Died 1944-11
2. 1947-12-24: elephant keeper Hans Rietmann fatal attack by Chang II. Hans Rietmann had no fear. On Christmas Eve, he entered the pit by himself. When he tried to fasten the chains around the elephant's hind legs, Chang turned and swept him up in his Trunk. † Hans Rietmann Died 1947-12-24, Zürich Zoo. Later that night, the trumpeting din of elephants Fighting aroused the sleeping zoo. The zoo director rushed to Chang's pit, found him attacking Mandjullah. On the floor he found Rietmann's dead body. This time there was no one to plead for Chang. At dawn the keepers' rifles cracked four times. Chang, the elephant with imagination, was dead.

In the morning the elephants are fed 5 kg bran, with warm water, vitamines and salt.

After washing the elephants in the morning, they are free to bath in the inner pool.

During the day they are fed branches as much as possible. In the evening each elephant becomes 25 kg of hay and some straw, 5 kg bred and about 20 kg of carrots or beets, and three times a week some apple and some vegetables.

Every afternoon, when the bull is not in Musth, he is kept together with the cows in the outdoor enclosure.
When the temperature allows, we feed the cows their eveningmeal in the house and let the outdoors open, so they can go in and out during the evening and in the night. In spring and autumn when its gets colder, the cows has the door closed, and so the bull can use the cows outdoor enclosure in the evening and night.

Information and photographs provided 29 September 98 by Georges Frei, elephant keeper in Zürich Zoo. Georges has made a webpage about the elephants at: http://www.upali.ch