This is a picture I had taken at the Philadelphia zoo last year. I am not sure if this is Petal, Kallie or Belle.
Petal, a 52 yr. old African elephant, the oldest elephant in any US zoo died suddenly and unexpectedly last Monday, June 9th. The elephant care staff found her lying in her stall at 7AM. She normally slept standing up. They tried for two hours to help her get to her feet to no avail.
A video showed her right leg buckling and she collapsed to the floor earlier that morning. The zoo said she had been in excellent health and had showed no signs of illness or declining health recently. A necropsy (an autopsy performed on an animal) has been performed. I have not heard of any test results being released.
Petal lived with two other elephants, Kallie, 25 yrs. old and Belle, 24 yrs. old. All three were slated to be moved to a newly constructed elephant sanctuary in Pittsburgh sometime this year. Kallie and Belle will still be moving there. The staff at the zoo is keeping an eye on these two to see how they will react to Petal’s death since she was the dominant figure in the group and all three had gotten along so well together.
Last year, my husband and I visited the Philadelphia zoo after a long absence. I am asthmatic and was particularly sensitive to cats of any kind. When I had previously visited the cat area at the zoo, I had an attack~ and we’re not talking about a mild attack. I had to leave. So it was a long time since my last visit. Needless to say I never leave home without my inhaler or nebulizer. But I was finally ready to take the journey to the zoo.
This visit was different for me as I looked at a zoo through different eyes. Being in the animal welfare industry as I have been I have witnessed much abuse and neglect and am more sensitive to the plight of the welfare of animals. It was a nice, sunny day and I sat there watching the elephants. I was drawn to them and I observed them as my husband wandered off to look at other animals.
As I looked at them I wondered for the first time if this small area had ample room for three elephants ~the largest land mammals that exist today. I was thinking is this fair to them ~ to live their lives in such a small area. I brought this point up to my husband and since neither of us are experts we didn’t know. But I certainly have my opinions. They didn’t appear stressed. What I felt was that they were bored by walking around in circles.
The following picture depicts “rocking behavior” which is ryhthmic and repitive swaying. This type of behavior is unreported in free roaming wild elephants.
I didn’t witness this type of behavior but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Rocking behavior can symptomatic of stress disorders and may be a precursor to aggressive behavior in captive elephants.
Truthfully, I don’t feel this is ample room for animals of this size. The Philadelphia Zoo Director, Vik Dewan, has admitted that conditons are inadequate for them. I guess that is why they are being moved to the sanctuary ~ which by the way is a breeding facility for elephants. The Philadelphia Zoo is hoping to possibly bringing them back at some point as they work on enlarging their area.
I do feel the staff sincerely cares about the animals. I am not saying they are abusing them. I don’t get that sense at all but I am looking at what is fair and right for the animals.
Why has it taken so long to figure out that they needed to enlarge the area? I’m sure they already knew that. But then why didn’t they seek out a sancturay earlier than this? Petal lived over 50 years at the Philadelphia Zoo. She knew no other life. Was this fair to her?
I read that captive elephants die at roughly half their natural average life span which is 70-80 yrs. The leading causes that are stated are foot and joint related problems created by the lack of space in zoos. Was this the case? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.
You can view a quick video of Petal’s last day, June 8th
http://www.youtube.com/v/xTArMOlbwRo&hl=en&rel=0″
Do you think it is fair for elephants to live in zoos?
Rest In Peace, Petal!