Portland's baby elephant belongs to traveling show

Last Friday’s birth of a 300-pound Asian female at the Oregon Zoo sparked public celebration and generated national news. The zoo industry promptly declared the event a victory in its quest to preserve and propagate an endangered species.

But the newborn calf doesn’t legally belong to the Portland zoo. Instead, it is the property of a private company, Have Trunk Will Travel, of Perris, Calif., which assumes ownership of the newborn within a month, according to a contract between the Oregon Zoo and the company that was obtained by The Times.

Oregon Zoo officials quietly cut a deal to give up the second, fourth and sixth offspring between Rose-Tu, owned by the zoo, and Tusko, a prolific male owned by Have Trunk Will Travel. Last week’s birth was the second offspring between the pair.

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In the wild, mother and daughter live together for life.