CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN DIEGO
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After a year of planning and an hourlong trip on Interstate 15, four adult Asian elephants arrived safely Saturday at the San Diego Zoo from the zoo’s Wild Animal Park.
The four -- bull Ranchipur and females Cookie, Mary and Cha Cha -- are set to star in the zoo’s new Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey, which will open May 23.
The zoo’s three resident elephants also will be part of the exhibit, the largest (7 1/2 acres), most expensive ($45 million) and most complex (30 species) in zoo history.
The move from the Wild Animal Park in the San Pasqual Valley toward the zoo on the edge of downtown began before dawn as the elephants -- ranging in size from 5,500 pounds to 12,500 pounds -- were coaxed into iron crates for the ride.
A construction crane lifted each crate onto a tractor-trailer. By 3 p.m., the move was complete, zoo officials said.
-- Tony Perry
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