NSW'S two main zoos will restrict contact with elephants following the near-fatal crushing of a Taronga keeper last year, preventing the city zoo from fulfilling one of the conditions of importing endangered Asian elephants from Thailand - to walk them.

As Taronga confirmed it will send all its male Asian elephants to Dubbo soon, splitting the family and social group of eight, senior management expressed ''disappointment'' that at least one staff member publicly criticised the move to ''protected contact'' with the pachyderms by mid-next year.

Dubbo bound … Taronga Zoo's Pathi Harn. Credit:Jacky Ghossein

''I'm glad I'm not an elephant as their world has now become as small as their enclosures,'' Gajah69 posted on the online forum, ZooChat. ''If as much effort had gone into improving the standard of management as there has to reduce it to [protected contact] then it would have proven to be a success.''

Taronga's acting general manager of life sciences, Rebecca Spindler, would not discuss any internal investigation into the forum post, but said: ''It's a bit disappointing that staff have decided to go out that route.''