How to buy and import a domesticated elephant?
Discussion
Does anyone know how you would go about acquiring and importing some domesticated elephants from I would guess India, Sri Lanka or Thailand ? I have googled the subject and I guess its a bit esoteric even for Google to find. I am not even sure whether you would transport them by ship or plane?
ali_kat said:
Why?ali_kat said:
plasticpig said:
ali_kat said:
Why?
Seriously, you may want to rethink this idea, under the Dangerous Animals Act 1976
You can't keep them privately, and IIRC you can't keep them in a Circus anymore either.
I understand they are on the Schedule but as long as we have somewhere secure and suitable to keep them (wich we believe we have) and proper transport for them then it should be possible to get a licence.
Fittster said:
ali_kat said:
I'm not knocking your idea!! 
.
Just pointing out that the chance of the entire wedding party making it to the reception alive is quite small. Type elephant ramage into youtube.
g4ry13 said:
plasticpig said:
ali_kat said:
Why?
Have you looked into how much someone would actually be willing to pay to rent an elephant, number of weddings in the area and the cost of maintenance, vets, housing etc.? Or is this an idea based on a whim at the moment?Doing a business plan on a subject you know sweet FA about is always fun
First thing to do is find out if it is actually possible to aquire some pachiderms.Fittster said:
I'd just like to point out that plasticpig is, according to his profile an IT Director. Now the next time you hit a problem with the IT at work just remember how the minds of the people in charge of the IT department work!
Director of an IT company actually Edited by Fittster on Thursday 11th October 19:36
The elephants would be a side line. Originally I suggested a Wedding Car Hire business but the others knowing my interest in all thing automotive poo pooed that idea as just a means of me getting my grubby mits on some tasty motors. So the elephant idea was born.srebbe64 said:
Let me get this straight. Plasticpig wants to buy some real elephants (plural) to hire out at Indian weddings in the Midlands? I cannot overstate the lunacy of such a business plan.
1) How big (or small) would such a market be?
2) I can't begin to imagine the red tape involved in buying elephants and renting them out!
3) I won't even talk about the level of professional indemnity insurance premiums. In fact, which insurance company would offer such a policy? Because you'd sure as hell need it!
4) What would the cost be of housing, feeding and keeping such monsters?
5) Who will you employ as the "driver" (or whatever they're called)?
Anyway, good luck with the venture!
No I am investigating the feasibility of importing one or more elephants with some other people .1) How big (or small) would such a market be?
2) I can't begin to imagine the red tape involved in buying elephants and renting them out!
3) I won't even talk about the level of professional indemnity insurance premiums. In fact, which insurance company would offer such a policy? Because you'd sure as hell need it!
4) What would the cost be of housing, feeding and keeping such monsters?
5) Who will you employ as the "driver" (or whatever they're called)?
Anyway, good luck with the venture!
I don't know the size of the market. Part of building a business plan is doing market research. If it turns out we can't get a decent ROI we will not go ahead. At the moment we just don't know because we haven't done the research.
Its just not wedding s though I am sure there are other diversified areas where we could generate income.
Until the research is done I don't know wether its lunacy or a sound busineess idea.
thewave said:
Brilliant thread.
Just been looking at some info on heffalumps.
They eat around 80kg of vegetation in captivity per day, consisting mainly of hay and fruit.
I guess they don't need too much room (like a horse is recommended to have an acre to run around)
They would require someone to look after them pretty much full time though, elephant keepers get paid roughly £230 per week. So depending on what elephant charge out rates are, you're going to have to be pretty busy to justbreak even. Then there's transporting them to and from venues, the food, vetinary bills, insurance (this would be massive) etc.
Fantastic idea, but i'd imagine it would have to be more of an extravagant hobby than a business.
The stabling and acreage isn't a major issue. The rest is what is currently being investigated. Horse & carriage hire seems to vary between £400 - £600. It will depend very much on how much we could charge extra for having an elephant present. We would have to get additional income from promotional work. The other area we will look at is experience days and corporate events.Just been looking at some info on heffalumps.
They eat around 80kg of vegetation in captivity per day, consisting mainly of hay and fruit.
I guess they don't need too much room (like a horse is recommended to have an acre to run around)
They would require someone to look after them pretty much full time though, elephant keepers get paid roughly £230 per week. So depending on what elephant charge out rates are, you're going to have to be pretty busy to justbreak even. Then there's transporting them to and from venues, the food, vetinary bills, insurance (this would be massive) etc.
Fantastic idea, but i'd imagine it would have to be more of an extravagant hobby than a business.
thewave said:
plasticpig said:
thewave said:
Brilliant thread.
Just been looking at some info on heffalumps.
They eat around 80kg of vegetation in captivity per day, consisting mainly of hay and fruit.
I guess they don't need too much room (like a horse is recommended to have an acre to run around)
They would require someone to look after them pretty much full time though, elephant keepers get paid roughly £230 per week. So depending on what elephant charge out rates are, you're going to have to be pretty busy to justbreak even. Then there's transporting them to and from venues, the food, vetinary bills, insurance (this would be massive) etc.
Fantastic idea, but i'd imagine it would have to be more of an extravagant hobby than a business.
The stabling and acreage isn't a major issue. The rest is what is currently being investigated. Horse & carriage hire seems to vary between £400 - £600. It will depend very much on how much we could charge extra for having an elephant present. We would have to get additional income from promotional work. The other area we will look at is experience days and corporate events.Just been looking at some info on heffalumps.
They eat around 80kg of vegetation in captivity per day, consisting mainly of hay and fruit.
I guess they don't need too much room (like a horse is recommended to have an acre to run around)
They would require someone to look after them pretty much full time though, elephant keepers get paid roughly £230 per week. So depending on what elephant charge out rates are, you're going to have to be pretty busy to justbreak even. Then there's transporting them to and from venues, the food, vetinary bills, insurance (this would be massive) etc.
Fantastic idea, but i'd imagine it would have to be more of an extravagant hobby than a business.
stander said:
plasticpig said:
ali_kat said:
Why?- if you are in the market, how about purchasing from a circus (they always seem to be going bust) or perhaps purchasing from an Eastern European zoo (who need the money)? Buy it within the EU, and I would have thought that would make it a lot easier to bring into the UK.
srebbe64 said:
Other miscellaneous: £5000 per year. So costs are (very approximately):
£1000 depreciation
£60,000 food
£1000 transport
£20,000 land and buildings
£4,000 transport costs
£30,000 employment costs
£12,000 sales & marketing
£20,000 insurance
£5,000 other
£143,000 per annum costs
It was mentioned the cost would be £800 per wedding, which means you would need to facilitate about 180 functions just to break even. Which is one every two days. If you managed to do a function every day (at £800) then you’d make about £150,000 a year profit. However, I reckon you could charge a lot more than £800. If you charged, say, £2000 it could begin to make financial sense.
Intresting ball park figures Screbbe. The feed costs are of concern to me. It seems Alfalfa is probably the best bet and thats quite expensive. Having a base that can be used as a visiting center and being able to host experience days is important as I reckon that could be quite a good income generator. £1000 depreciation
£60,000 food
£1000 transport
£20,000 land and buildings
£4,000 transport costs
£30,000 employment costs
£12,000 sales & marketing
£20,000 insurance
£5,000 other
£143,000 per annum costs
It was mentioned the cost would be £800 per wedding, which means you would need to facilitate about 180 functions just to break even. Which is one every two days. If you managed to do a function every day (at £800) then you’d make about £150,000 a year profit. However, I reckon you could charge a lot more than £800. If you charged, say, £2000 it could begin to make financial sense.
sam.r said:
plasticpig said:
srebbe64 said:
Other miscellaneous: £5000 per year. So costs are (very approximately):
£1000 depreciation
£60,000 food
£1000 transport
£20,000 land and buildings
£4,000 transport costs
£30,000 employment costs
£12,000 sales & marketing
£20,000 insurance
£5,000 other
£143,000 per annum costs
It was mentioned the cost would be £800 per wedding, which means you would need to facilitate about 180 functions just to break even. Which is one every two days. If you managed to do a function every day (at £800) then you’d make about £150,000 a year profit. However, I reckon you could charge a lot more than £800. If you charged, say, £2000 it could begin to make financial sense.
Intresting ball park figures Screbbe. The feed costs are of concern to me. It seems Alfalfa is probably the best bet and thats quite expensive. Having a base that can be used as a visiting center and being able to host experience days is important as I reckon that could be quite a good income generator. £1000 depreciation
£60,000 food
£1000 transport
£20,000 land and buildings
£4,000 transport costs
£30,000 employment costs
£12,000 sales & marketing
£20,000 insurance
£5,000 other
£143,000 per annum costs
It was mentioned the cost would be £800 per wedding, which means you would need to facilitate about 180 functions just to break even. Which is one every two days. If you managed to do a function every day (at £800) then you’d make about £150,000 a year profit. However, I reckon you could charge a lot more than £800. If you charged, say, £2000 it could begin to make financial sense.
You'll get more than that!!
What are you planning to charge plasticpig?
Seriously I dont know at the moment. It will probably take a couple of months to get a business plan together to see if its viable. If it is I would guess a minimum another 6 months to set it up. Its not a business model any of us are familliar with so we will be taking it cautiously.ali_kat said:
A quick Google brought this up
$30 for the elephant
Oh, and according to the website PlasticPig gave us earlier inthe thread, it needs to be a white elephant
Isn't a white elephant a 'bric a brac' stall at a jumble sale 
I think they are painted white. The one Banksy did looks quite fetching:$30 for the elephant
Oh, and according to the website PlasticPig gave us earlier inthe thread, it needs to be a white elephant
wedding elephant said:
The Asian bride will expect her Asian groom to meet her on a traditional white wedding elephant decorated in red and gold traditional style.
Isn't a white elephant a 'bric a brac' stall at a jumble sale Edited by ali_kat on Friday 12th October 17:59
Dolf said:
Are you still looking - or have you given up the idea?
No havent given up. I have hardly started Its just for a business plan at the moment. Until we have a firm grasp of start up costs and operational costs vs income we wont be doing anything. There needs to be a decent chanche of a good ROE for anything to happen.Unfourtunately this project isnt going anywhere in the near future. There is loads of red tape involved which we just dont have the time to deal with at the moment. We did locate some Elephants to buyin Thailand. Getting them out of Thailand would be an intresting proposition and would involve quite a bit of bribery. Then there is the shipping problem.....
I still think it's potentially viable. The average spend on an Indian wedding is over £30K!Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff