Tessa, a forty-year-old elephant at the Toronto Zoo, died on Saturday after another member of the herd knocked her over while trying to steal her food. Tessa, who was a runt, died because of the pressure her own weight put on her internal organs (which is why you don’t see elephants rolling around that often). Even though she was bullied, her herd-mates still mourned her:
All through the night, Thika, Toka, Iringa and Tara made their way across the Toronto Zoo enclosure to stand by their fallen sister, a 40-year-old elephant who died Saturday after a shove from a dominant member of the group.
Some stood solitary vigil, others tossed dirt onto the cooling body. But each was there to mourn Tessa, one of the original members of their herd.
Rest In Peace, Tessa.
(Source)
I was there on that day, and I didn’t know until after the fact that this had happened. It all makes so much sense now though, not only were there no elephants on that day, but every zoo exhibit of almost every animal seemed a bit off. They were all lying down, curled up or looking very sad as if they all knew or sensed something had happened.
so, so sad.
So sad to hear the news. (;;)
I am a big advocate of zoo animals being ambassadors of wildlife, but there is a strong movement to remove elephants from zoos because they don’t have the space to really take care of such large animals. There is a movement amongst zoo officials to find better suited homes for elephants because they realize that animals that walk miles and miles a day in the wild cannot really be taken care of well in a small space. Now if only circus elephants could be treated with this type of respect.
i heard on the radio… so sad.