Elephants lived at Chessington Zoo between 1931 and 1996 – they were a major attraction for many years; both in the zoo and the circus, however in 1981 plans were made to transform the zoo in to a theme park and many of the larger animals were relocated to other collection in order to make way for the arrival of the theme park rides, the final elephant left Chessington in 1996. The elephants were a great advertisement for Chessington Zoo, they would often go for walks outside of the grounds to give the public a sneak peek of what they could see in the zoo, they’ve been photographed at Epsom Downs Racecourse, local high streets and The Oval, the home of Surrey County Cricket Club. One of our elephants, Maya, left Chessington Zoo in 1990 to go to Chester Zoo, where she still lives now – she’s around 49 years old currently. This location housed the elephants and hippos at the zoo – the building is now used as a Café and indoor play area, Dragon’s Playhouse.