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The Story of Joa the African Elephant-by Srilal Miththapala Source:Dailymirror Joa was probably born in 1992, and was brought to the Dehiwela Zoo in 1995. He was a 3 year old African Bush (or Savannah) elephant. There are two sub species of African elephants, the Forest Elephant and the larger Bush Elephant. He was one of two African elephants sent from Botswana on an exchange programme between zoos. His companion was Nandipa, an African Forest elephant who was smaller in stature than Joa. Unfortunately Nandipa died at the early age of six. When Joa reached the young adolescent age, (around 8-10 years in elephants) he started becoming very aggressive. The only mahout who could somewhat control him retired in 2016, and subsequently Joa had to be constantly chained in all four feet. This caused considerable backlash on the zoo, from animal lovers and activists. I remember visiting the zoo in 2017 ...