The Oakland Zoo is saying goodbye to the Bay Area’s last remaining African elephant.
People of all ages visited the zoo to bid Osh a final farewell before he heads to a new, and some say, more appropriate home in Tennessee.
“I’m sad but knowing that he is going to a sanctuary with other elephants, and he can be in a herd situation makes me happy,” said visitor Michael Barnett.
The goodbye even attracted some first-time zoo visitors.
“He’s so big. So, it’s very beautiful to see Osh. So, this is my first time here at the zoo and so I just really enjoy it. I'm glad I was able to see him before he leaves to Tennessee,” said visitor Rogelio Aguilar Lopez.
The move comes after 20 years in the Bay Area. Osh is the zoo’s last remaining elephant. His exhibit mate, Donna, was moved to the same sanctuary last year.
When Osh packs up his trunk, it will also mark the end for the zoo’s 75-year-old elephant exhibit. A choice that zoo CEO Nik Dehejia said was based on the social needs of the animals.
“We looked at a lot of opportunities, could we bring elephants back to Oakland? But really at the end of the day said, he could move to the elephant sanctuary as well, be there close to Donna but with other African elephants as well,” Dehejia said.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
The sanctuary will also provide Osh more space -- with over 3,000 acres to roam.
But moving Osh is no small task.
The 15,000-pound animal will be transported in an air-conditioned trailer in a 40-hour journey to Tennessee.
“It's really important that kids and adults get to see animals and learn about them but at the same time I don’t think it should ever be more important than the animals' well-being,” said visitor David Toper. “We are happy that he is going to have a good life.”
As part of goodbye, the zoo held a farewell party over the weekend bringing out more than 300 people.
Visitors also signed an 11-foot-2-inch banner -- that’s the same size as Osh.
And that banner will hang in Osh’s former home when he leaves.
“We come here specifically to seeing the elephant, she likes to talk about the elephant every night, we say goodnight to the elephant, we talk about elephante’s house and elephant's hot tub when he goes in the water. So, she is a big fan, we are a big fan,” said Toper.
Osh will leave this month, though the zoo is keeping the exact date a secret.
Animal activists In Defense of Animals praised the Oakland Zoo earlier this year for being the 41st zoo in the U.S. to announce it will close an elephant exhibit.
“Animals do come first and we always put that stake in the ground. We know that we will continue to invest in elephant conservation in the wild,” Dehejia said. “Its a huge goodbye matching Osh’s size, and the love visitors have for him.”
