ShareThisBy MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Alaska Zoo officials are baffled why the zoo's elephant, Maggie, laid down Wednesday for a second time in four days and could not get up.
The incidents will likely move up the zoo board's decision on whether to keep Alaska's lone elephant or ship the facility's popular attraction out of state, said board president Dick Thwaites. "We are considering what's best for Maggie," he said.
Two-dozen firefighters used straps and a winch tied to a tow truck to lift the 8,000-pound pachyderm after zoo staff discovered her laying on her right side on the concrete floor in her enclosure. It was a repeat of a hazardous incident May 13 that lasted as long as 19 hours for the elephant.
Zoo director Pat Lampi said Maggie was down for six or seven hours on Wednesday before the tow truck got her back on her feet.
When an elephant is down for too long it can damage internal organs, muscles and the kidneys, veterinarians say.
The zoo speculated after Sunday's incident that colic or a stomachache might have weakened the elephant. But Lampi said zoo vets had ruled that out. Blood tests showed nothing abnormal. More blood tests have been ordered, and the zoo is consulting with local and outside veterinarians to determine a diagnosis.
Nearly three years ago, the board made the controversial decision to keep Maggie in Alaska, and said they would revisit the question in August 2007. The health of the elephant will certainly be a topic at the next board meeting on June 13, Thwaites said.
The debate over whether the elephant belongs in Alaska has garnered national and international attention. Animal rights activists have lobbied for years for her retirement to an elephant sanctuary, where she can roam with other elephants in a warmer locale. The recent incidents have amplified the calls to move her.
At the urgings of local activists, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation along with the state's vet, Dr. Robert Gerlach, are monitoring Maggie's health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also keeping abreast of developments.
"This could be good or bad for Maggie," said Penelope Wells of the local group Friends of Maggie, which wants the elephant moved out of Alaska. "This could be a wake-up call, or at the same time she could be too weak to be moved."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
