But good zoos should not allow themselves to fall into the trap of thinking like this. One incident that illustrates something of the difficulty of keeping adult bull elephants was the sad death of an amiable African Bull, Jumbolino, at Chester in 1976. Jumbolino died after being pushed by a matriarchal Asian cow elephant into a steep sided moat. Another death to occur in a similar way was the notorious death of Dixie at London Zoo. Where an elephant is able to fall into a moat and injure itself, perhaps fatally, then this type of barrier must be unacceptable.
Elephants are such heavy animals that they can easily sustain serious fractures if they fall.
Better alternatives exist. Some collections use railings as barriers, and moats with a sloping approach could perhaps be used more often. Chester has replaced its inside moats with railings, and all of Aspinall's extensive accommodation at Howletts and Port Lympne is fenced. Electric fencing is used to good effect at many safari parks. But dangerous looking moats still exist at several major zoos.