hey patrick
the subspecies of asian elephant i understand well. as you said, human influences have to some extent diluted the purity of these races over the centuries. isis currently breaks down the world elephant population following these sub speces, and draws a distinction between the animals held in perth ad those in the rest of the australasian region. this is what i was referring to.
american breeding programs generally drop these distinctions, with so few animals left capable of reproducing, although some people in the north american zoo community argue that sub species purity should be maintained as priority although i am not sure what arazpa's position on the matter is?
interestingly, its a similar pattern with the subspecies oflions, african hunting dogs and black rhino also kept in australian zoos...
as for the african elephants, that was just an anecdotal piece i threw in. with the zpb of nsw, nothing is really certain until it actualy happens. some concepts materialize, others are kept quiet. babirusa and philipine spotter deer have not yet arrived, though they were supposed to and may arrive yet and andean condors breeding with siblings is also something that the zpb is not going to publicise. given the controvesy surrounding the asian elephant import the idea of an african import might not be publically floated for sometime. or it may never happen as your source says.
and as with the case of dora the indian rhino's importation, they dont always follow regional collection principles. it is my understanding that the indian rhino importation did draw some critisism from other zoos, and arazpa, who maintain that african rhino species should be the focus of australasias zoos with limited holding capacity and resources. so we will see with the african elephants...
and dude, you couldnt have said it any better about keeping elephants in the city.