National Zoo puts down arthritic elephant

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Zoo said it put
down an arthritic elephant on Wednesday in the latest in a
series of high-profile deaths at the flagship institution,
which has also marked notable births.

The Asian elephant, Toni, was 40 and had been in worsening
pain, the zoo said. Elephants can live to be 60 or older.

“We increased her (painkiller) dosages and did not get any
satisfactory response,” National Zoo director John Berry told a
news conference. “We concluded that there were no options
remaining to us … At first light today Toni left us.”

The zoo has lost dozens of large animals since 1998,
including an elephant in 2000, two red pandas mistakenly killed
by rat poison, a lion, a zebra, a cheetah and a giraffe.

An investigation by the National Research Council found
problems with staff training, workplace culture and strategic
planning. The former director resigned in 2004.

Elephant curator Tony Barthel said the zoo’s 57-year-old
elephant Ambika, who is healthy and free of arthritis, provided
evidence that the zoo enclosure was not the cause of Toni’s
health woes. “She has been living in the current conditions at
the National Zoo for longer than Toni was alive,” he said.

The zoo has also enjoyed successes, most notably the birth
in July 2005 after artificial insemination of giant panda Tai
Shan, who has attracted crowds of adoring visitors.

The zoo has also bred nine cheetah cubs in the past two
years, as well as rare clouded leopards and red pandas. A male
elephant, Kandula, was born in 2001 after artificial
insemination.

Zoo staff said they coddled Toni on her last night, feeding
her treats such as pineapple, watermelon, grapes and sweet
potatoes. Three keepers slept with her.

THREE REMAINING ELEPHANTS

The zoo’s three remaining elephants: Kandula; his mother,
30-year-old Shanthi, and Ambika, were put together so Ambika,
who had lived with Toni, would not be alone.

Toni came to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo in
1989 from a small zoo in Pennsylvania. A leg injury suffered
there contributed to her pain, veterinarians said.

Critics have said zoo conditions, including small,
concrete-floored enclosures, make elephants miserable.

“Elephants are intelligent and free-ranging animals who
live in tightly-knit family groups, walk 10 miles or more a
day, and have home ranges of up to 200 square miles,” In
Defense of Animals said in a statement.

“Science tells us what elephants need,” Amy Mayers of the
group Friends of Toni said as a guard escorted her off zoo
grounds. “Zoos are not doing it.”

“I disagree with that conclusion,” Berry said. He said zoo
programs are important in conserving the endangered Asian
elephant and making the animals visible to the public.

“Our medical expertise is second to none,” he added.

Some U.S. zoos, concerned over odd behavior and arthritis,
have closed or changed their elephant exhibits. In September
zookeepers in Anchorage, Alaska, said they were installing a
treadmill for their one elephant.

Berry said the National Zoo was rethinking its approach. It
is building a larger exhibit for some of its animals and had
recently added some soft sand to Toni’s enclosure.

He said the zoo was considering moving at least some
elephants to a 100-acre (40.5-hectare) to 200-acre (81-hectare)
enclosure at its more rural conservation facility in Virginia.