Eight Asian elephants have left Thailand, bound for two Australian zoos.

The animals left Asia aboard a massive Russian airfreighter and will spend the next three months in a beach-side quarantine facility in Cocos Keeling Islands before being flown on to Taraonga Zoo in Sydney and to Melbourne Zoo.

The elephants’ journey began back in 2004 when they left work camps and travelled to a Thai quarantine.

Taronga Zoo director Guy Cooper said, “It’s a tremendous feeling to be bringing our precious cargo from Thailand to Australian territory and one step closer to making their eventual homes in the custom-designed facilities we’ve built for these elephants.

“I’d especially like to thank the Thai people and the Thai government for their strong support for the project.

“This is a significant and long-term relationship that we have forged together, to work as partners in a range of conservation programs not just for elephants, but also for many other endangered species.”

The elephants were loaded into specially-built transport crates, which they had been trained to feel comfortable in over many months.

They were then moved by truck during the cooler hours of the evening and craned into the huge cargo aircraft.

Zoo keepers, veterinarians and the original Thai mahouts accompanied the elephants throughout the transportation.