It looks like the big move has been delayed again, and the Toronto Zoo’s three elephants won’t be heading south of the border until spring.

That’s because the zoo’s senior veterinarian has deep concerns about what he says are active cases of tuberculosis at the California PAWS sanctuary, where city council ordered the elephants sent last October.

Dr. Graham Crawshaw told reporters Tuesday and, earlier, the board of directors that the zoo’s “due diligence” probe of PAWS continues, amid unresolved questions about TB at the facility.

The zoo is still seeking updated TB results for elephants currently at the facility, Crawshaw said in an interview. “It’s more than reasonable to assume there is active TB in Asian elephants at PAWS,” he said.

Stories about tuberculosis at PAWS have circulated for months, but Tuesday was the first time the zoo’s veterinarian spoke at length publicly about his worries.

The zoo says that of eight elephants at PAWS — five Asians and three Africans — three of the Asians have tested positive for the disease. Of eight elephants that have died at PAWS since 2003, two Asians tested positive.

The zoo also wants details about how PAWS’s quarantine protocols for controlling disease.

But those in favour of sending the elephants there say any infected Asians would be housed far enough from Toronto’s African elephants once they arrive.

Julie Woodyer, a director with Zoocheck Canada, the animal rights group working with PAWS, says Toronto Zoo staff have a “significant bias’’ against the California sanctuary because the zoo has been under pressure from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to prevent the elephants from going to the non-AZA-accredited site.

Former game show host Bob Barker said he believes the zoo board is trying to delay the elephants’ transfer, but he doesn’t know why.

“I think the behaviour of the zoo is contemptible,” Barker said in a telephone interview from California on Tuesday.

Although disillusioned by the zoo’s actions, he said, rescinding his offer of almost $1 million to get the elephants to California is not an option.

“A threat like that would not bother [the zoo board] at all,” Barker said. “The zoo would be happy to know that the money was not available. I would not do that; I want to help the elephants.”

Toronto City Council voted last October to send the elephants to PAWS, but critics say the vote was taken late at night, in haste, and without knowledge of the sanctuary’s tuberculosis problem.

That vote defied the zoo board’s wish, which was to find an AZA-accredited facility as a home for the elephants.

The zoo was subsequently stripped of its AZA accreditation for the first time in 30 years, partly due to the decision to move Toronto’s trio — Iringa, Toka and Thika — to PAWS.

Crawshaw accused PAWS of being extraordinarily secretive.

When he and other zoo staff conducted a site visit last December, they were, under directions from PAWS lawyers, only allowed to see two of the five elephant barns. The zoo team didn’t get to view all the elephants at the facility, but did see staff caring for some while wearing face masks. Crawshaw says at the time he received incomplete information about the status of tuberculosis at PAWS.

Zoo officials say they didn’t learn the extent of the issue until around late spring or early summer. Much of it came from U.S. Department of Agriculture documents obtained by members of the public through Freedom of Information searches.

Crawshaw said there are also details to iron out, such as securing the proper plane to transport the elephants.

As a result, the zoo board voted 7-2, on Councillor Mark Grimes’ motion, to refer the elephant move to the city's executive committee on Oct. 9.

That means the issue than likely goes to the November city council meeting.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, a staunch supporter of PAWS and a zoo board member, said after the vote that the new timelines mean the animals will probably spend another winter in Toronto, with a spring move at the earliest.

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“Unfortunately for our African elephants they will have to stay in the cold city of Toronto, in a barn with a hard floor for this winter,” he said.

But Grimes said the elephants can spend another winter here, no problem.

“These elephants have lived here for years,” he pointed out. “It’s not a race.”