By MIKU ITO/ Staff Writer
June 26, 2024 at 18:37 JST
Myint Swe, left, hands over a document to a Fukuoka Zoo official on June 25 in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward. (Miku Ito)
FUKUOKA--Three Myanmar nationals who live in Japan asked the Fukuoka Zoo on June 25 to delay accepting elephants from their home country, saying that the ruling junta is using the animals for diplomatic purposes.
The Fukuoka Zoo, which is scheduled to accept four Asian elephants from Myanmar in July, declined the request to delay the receipt.
“Accepting the elephants at this time is an interaction between our countries aiming at breeding and the biological research of elephants,” zoo officials said.
The Myanmar nationals, two women who live in Fukuoka and Myint Swe, 63, who lives in Tokyo, visited the zoo on June 25 to make the request and submit a document.
“The military government took advantage of sending elephants as a diplomatic measure in the past," they said. "The government will try to make the most of sending elephants for its political advantage this time again.”
The three Myanmar nationals asked the zoo to postpone accepting the elephants until a democratic government is established in Myanmar.
In addition, they suggested that the zoo include a display explaining the current political situation in Myanmar if it accepts the pachyderms and puts them on display.
But the Fukuoka Zoo will not change its plans.
“Many people including children are telling us that they want to see the elephants soon," said a Fukuoka Zoo official. "So, we need to proceed with academic exchanges aiming at breeding and biological research of the animals as a responsible institution.”
The city of Fukuoka operates the zoo. The city and the Yangon Zoo located in Yangon, Myanmar, agreed on a memorandum over exchanges of animals in 2019.
The Fukuoka Zoo plans to display the elephants to the public in October if they smoothly acclimate themselves to their new surroundings.
In Myanmar, the incumbent military government ousted the democratically elected administration in a coup in 2021 and seized power.
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