Asian elephant Chai, 37, found dead Saturday morning and a Tweet Storm for Nosey featuring Nosey's Rangers is set for Wednesday (February 3rd) this week. Plus, a 2-year-old elephant dies at Ringling Bros. conservation center.
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden announced the death of Asian elephant Chai, 37, Saturday morning by e-mail.
The zoo says Chai appeared peaceful and there was no outward sign she was in pain or suffering at the time of her death
Chai came to Oklahoma City last May from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with Bamboo an 48-year-old Asian elephant. Chai had regular health checkups while at the zoo
Chai was found by zookeepers in the elephant yard about 7:30 a.m. The zoo's veterinary staff have not determined a cause of death but will perform a necropsy. The results are expected early next week.
Here is the zoo's response to my question about if this death is related to last year's elephant death: Click Here To view it!
Chai is the second elephant to die at the Zoo in the last six months. Malee, a 4-year-old Asian elephant, died last October.
And again, Nosey's Voice presents Tweet Storm for Nosey featuring Nosey's Rangers.
This is going to be a TWO day Event, with Two different tweet sheets . For #Nosey :)
Join us on February 3rd for part one, and February 4th for part two to help Nosey's Rangers voices be heard by sharing their video using their voices. Nosey the elephant is long over due for retirement.
The most recent photos of her show how life on the road is taking a toll on her.
Please share the event, invite everyone
Its time #NoseysVoice is heard
Its time to #RetireNosey
Please join us in Nosey's Voice, small but humble group of people who want to help Nosey
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NoseysVoice/
Last, 2-year-old elephant dies at Ringling Bros. conservation center. Preliminary results show Mike died of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus.
The youngest elephant at Ringling Bros & Barnum Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk City died on Monday, officials said.
A 2-year-old Asian elephant named Mike, who was born at the center, died from the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, according to a release.
Final necropsy results are pending, but officials said preliminary results along with blood tests indicated that EEHV was the cause of death.
"No one knows why the virus manifests this way in some elephants, since most elephants harbor the virus and never become ill," said Dr. Ashley Settles, Ringling Bros. director of veterinary care, in a release. "Mike only began to show the slightest of symptoms on Saturday and was eating and drinking well as late as Sunday afternoon, but the illness progressed very rapidly. As soon as symptoms began we started treating him, but by Monday morning there was nothing more anyone could do to prevent his passing."
Mike was born at the conservation on June 27, 2013, to Angelica and Romeo, who were also both born at the center. The center has had 26 births of endangered Asian elephants since its founding in 1995, according to officials, adding that Mike was the first elephant at the center to die of EEHV.
What’s Ringling Really Up to at Its ‘Conservation Center’?
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has vowed to eliminate its elephant acts by May 2016, at which point it plans to hold all the elephants at its Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) in Florida. While relief from the stress and physical demands of life on the road will be a positive change, life at the CEC is no fairytale ending for elephants.
An in-depth PETA analysis—complete with photos and video links—of the living conditions for elephants at the CEC found that the animals spend most of their lives in chains. According to the sworn testimony of Gary Jacobson, general manager of the CEC, elephants at the facility are routinely chained on concrete floors for up to 24 hours a day. During a court-ordered inspection of the CEC, an independent elephant-care specialist observed that elephants spent so much time chained that they had worn grooves into the concrete.
“Training techniques … include a lot of man power, brute force, electricity, and a savage disposition. Raising a baby elephant at Ringling[‘s CEC] is like raising a kid in jail.”—Former Ringling employee Samuel Haddock
Records show that the elephants at the CEC have a long history of rampant tuberculosis—an airborne and potentially fatal disease that is highly transmissible to humans, even without direct contact. As of June 2014, at least nine elephants at the CEC were under quarantine orders, including two who had been pulled from performing with the circus and sent to the CEC after testing positive for tuberculosis.
A prior PETA report documents that in 2011, 29 elephants with Ringling—including 25 at the CEC—tested positive for tuberculosis on diagnostic blood tests. At least eight of those elephants have since died, including Jewell, who was transferred to the Little Rock Zoo in, according to Florida’s State Veterinarian, violation of Florida’s animal-quarantine laws.
Calves separated from the mothers and chained to barren concrete in a barn at the Center for Elephant Conservation..
Elephant with cracked nail.
Chained baby elephant.
Trainer with electric prod (circled).
Trainer with electric prod (circled).
In the wild, elephants are active for 18 hours per day, foraging, socializing, taking dust baths, and exploring home ranges that span hundreds of miles. At the CEC, females are left in unnaturally small social groups, while males are kept isolated and behind bars. Without adequate space to move, elephants are prone to arthritis and foot diseases—both of which can be life-threatening. Despite the word “conservation” in the CEC’s name, no elephant already in Ringling’s hands or born in the future will ever step foot into the wild or ease the plight of endangered wild populations.
