An Asian elephant at the St. Louis Zoo has died after becoming agitated when a loose dog in the area apparently caused distress in other elephants. Rani, 27, had been at the zoo since 2001, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "We are absolutely devastated," zoo Director Michael Macek said in a statement. The zoo is still conducting tests to determine cause of death, but its pathologist has found that Rani had a preexisting heart condition. The zoo puts the median life expectancy for female Asian elephants under human care at 47½ years.
Zoo officials gave this account: A small, unleashed dog that apparently was lost was spotted running around Friday afternoon near the Elephant Barn, in an area not open to the public. Rani was indoors eating and didn't see the dog. But an elephant that was outside became agitated, which caused others inside to vocalize. Rani did, too, while moving in a circle in her pen. The elephant then collapsed. The zoo's Elephant Care and Animal Health teams were unable to revive her. "Rani was a special member of this elephant family group," a zoo staff member said. The dog was caught and turned over to a local shelter.
Rani's mother, Ellie, 52, still lives at the zoo with daughters Maliha, 17, and Priya, 10, as does Rani's daughter, Jade, per KTVI. The St. Louis Zoo's Center for Asian Elephant Conservation works to stave off extinction, per the Post-Dispatch; there are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants living in the wild. Still, animal rights advocates argue that zoos are no place for elephants, which, for instance, need to walk dozens of miles per day for joint health. A few zoos have decided to send their elephants to animal sanctuaries that have large spaces for them to roam. (Biologists have learned about how Asian elephants mourn.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
