Elephant management staff at Woodland Park Zoo and a visiting veterinarian performed an artificial insemination procedure on Chai, the zoo’s 31-year-old Asian elephant, this week.

The procedure was carried out at the recommendation of the Elephant Taxon Advisory Group of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums with the assistance of Dr. Dennis Schmitt, an expert in elephant medical and reproductive management and the reproductive advisor for that group.

“This insemination comes at the recommendation of the world’s leading experts on elephant health and breeding and is a continuation of Woodland Park Zoo’s longstanding commitment to preserving this endangered species,” Dr. Nancy Hawkes, the zoo’s general curator, said in a Woodland Park Zoo press release.

The semen donor was a 12-year-old bull at Albuquerque Biological Park.

“We’re very excited about the prospect of Chai becoming a mom again and hopeful that she has conceived," Hawkes said in the press release. "The sperm in the semen sample were healthy and robust, and we know the timing couldn’t have been better."

The zoo will monitor Chai’s hormone levels closely over the next few months and hopes to verify a pregnancy by ultrasound in approximately 15 to 16 weeks.

The gestation period of elephants is 22 months. If pregnant, Chai’s due date will be in early 2012.

The last artificial insemination procedure on Chai was done in January 2008, which resulted in a pregnancy but unfortunately ended in a miscarriage during the first trimester.

Chai’s health and well being is a top priority, according to the press release.

The assisted reproduction procedure signals the zoo’s ongoing commitment to breeding Asian elephants, inspiring visitors to care about elephants and protecting elephants in the wild, according to the press release.

The non-invasive technique uses new technology developed within the last decade. It offers a safe alternative for elephants to become pregnant without needing to travel to another institution and spend months away from their social group, according to the press release.

A healthy pregnancy and successful birth would be significant to the population of Asian elephants in institutions, such as Woodland Park Zoo, according to the press release.

Elephants in zoos are important conservation ambassadors and provide zoo-goers a vital, emotional connection to the natural world of elephants, according to the press release.

“We want people to care about elephants like we do, and not everyone can afford to travel to Asia or Africa to experience these endangered species in their natural range,” Hawkes said in the press release.. “By seeing, hearing, even smelling elephants up close, we know visitors become inspired to take action to help protect these magnificent animals.”

All of Woodland Park Zoo’s elephants are female. In addition to Chai, the other members of the herd are 43-year-old Asian elephant Bamboo and 41-year-old African elephant Watoto. Hansa, Chai’s female offspring born in 2000, died unexpectedly at 6.5 years old from a newly discovered elephant herpesvirus.

Alyne Fortgang, cofounder of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, said it is irresponsible for the zoo to go forward with a breeding program when there has already been reported cases of herpes infection and death within the elephant population.

The zoo has no infection control in place and no cure for herpes, which means there is a death sentence on any calf born there, Fortgang said.

"It's an absolute tragedy to do that to Chai," she said. "It's unconscionable."

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, a branch of the Northwest Animal Rights Network, is pushing for the release of the zoo's elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

"Quite frankly, the entire elephant program is a dark cloud over the zoo," Fortgang said.