Gerry Creighton, chief executive of Global Elephant Care, is among the experts getting the two elephants ready for their journey.
He said the elephants had arrived from zoos in Germany and before that one of them worked in a logging camp, the other in a circus.
As they are now classed as geriatric, he said the decision was made by BIAZA – the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, EAZA – the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Belfast Zoo and Mr Creighton himself, to move them.
“I went to visit the zoo in the Netherlands – it’s a wonderful facility, there are elephants of a similar age,” he said.
“There will be a group of four – and that’s the recommended number for elephants to live together.
“These elephants are similar ages and they will be able to compliment one another’s energy levels and how they live.”
