Taipei Zoo's elephants receive training

This article was from The United Daily News and published by The Taiwan Headlines on June 26, 2003.

You-hsin and You-chi, two female Asian elephants in their mid-20s, are students at the Taipei City Zoo's "elephant class". The zoo hopes to establish mutual trust between caretakers and animals and enable the elephants to respond to commands, so that when medical treatment is necessary, no coercion or anaesthesia is needed, and problems can be handled earlier. An appropriate level of training allows the elephants to obey simple commands and take medicine, receive injections, and submit to various types of examinations.