The Calgary Zoo's male elephant, named Spike, is now on his way to his new home at Busch Gardens in Florida, officials said on Tuesday.
Handlers say that Spike was safely loaded on Tuesday morning.
He will be accompanied by a full team of elephant experts including a veterinarian and elephant handlers from both Busch Gardens and the Calgary Zoo for the duration of his trip.
The transport crate is monitored by close-circuit cameras and is also temperature controlled.
Officials said they would be moving him to Busch Gardens back on July 23.
Calgary Zoo officials say they chose Busch Gardens because of its work with and conservation efforts for Asian elephants and the relationship it has with the vice president of Zoological Operations, Jeff Andrews.
The zoo's three female elephants, Kamala, Swarna and Maharani will move to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s newly-developed ‘Elephant Trails’ exhibit and will be introduced to four other Asian elephants currently living there.
