Woodland Park Zoo elephant dies suddenly

Hansa, a 6-year-old Asian elephant who delighted visitors to the Woodland Park Zoo, was found dead Friday, about a week after she began displaying colic-like symptoms, the zoo said Friday.

Staff members had been monitoring her closely, noting a decrease in appetite and activity, and had administered fluids and antibiotics. Tests came back inconclusive and she appeared to be stabilizing earlier this week, but she apparently died in her sleep overnight at the zoo's Elephant Barn.

Zoo officials closed the exhibit for the day and said they would release necropsy results as soon as they are available. Preliminary results may be available in a day or two, and more conclusive results in a few weeks, they said.

"She was a little princess, and she had a big old Buddha belly," Dr. Kelly Helmick, the zoo's director of animal health, said as she teared up during a news conference. "She was just beginning to mature and drop her baby weight, and we were talking about her future as a mother."

Hansa was the first elephant born at the century-old Woodland Park Zoo. Administrators had sent her mother, Chai, to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo., where natural breeding resulted in a pregnancy. Chai was artificially inseminated in March, in hopes she would produce another offspring.

The zoo's remaining herd consists of Chai, 28; Bamboo, a 40-year-old Asian elephant; and Watoto, a 38-year-old African elephant.

Asian elephants, which are endangered, typically live about 45 years, according to the zoo's Web site, and animal rights groups said Hansa's death was further evidence that the zoo is too small for elephants. Members of the Northwest Animal Rights Network have been urging zoo officials to give their elephants to preserves such as the 2,700-acre Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.

Elephants in their natural environment walk 30 to 50 miles per day, while Woodland Park offers only about an acre, said Mark French, the organization's treasurer. He said other zoos, including the Detroit Zoo, have given up their elephant exhibits after determining they did not have enough space.

"The only good thing that could come from this would be for the City Council and the Woodland Park Zoo to come to the realization that the zoo just does not have the space to take care of these animals," French said.

Gigi Allianic, a zoo spokeswoman, said the zoo will continue to raise elephants, and Dr. Deborah Jensen, the zoo's president and chief executive, said Hansa received only the best care.

"We will all miss her," Allianic said. "We are a family here and we will provide as much support and comfort possible during this difficult time."

source : news.yahoo.com