Zoo's New Baby Elephant Dies After Plunge Into Pool
Other elephants tried to help, but couldn't
Friday, August 05, 2005
By Pam Greene
Staff writer
Rosamond Gifford Zoo officials Thursday night mourned the loss of their newest family member when baby elephant Kedar died after a pool accident earlier in the day.
The 345-pound elephant, born Sunday, died about 6:15 p.m. - 10 hours after he darted past his protective adult family members and dove head-first into the pool.
His step-sister, 10-year-old Kirina, was among the female elephants keeping an eye on the baby and "was doing a very good job of herding him away from the pool," zoo spokeswoman Sarah Fedele said. "But he snuck through her legs and did a head-dive into the pool."
The four female elephants in the yard tried to pull him out, then went in after him but instead forced him into a deeper section of the pool.
Within seconds, elephant collection manager John Moakler jumped into the pool and pulled Kedar's trunk out of the water, said zoo director Ann Baker. Moakler then pushed the baby to shallow water so he could get out of the pool.
The accident left water in the baby's lungs and caused a fever throughout the day, but zoo officials who were keeping constant watch said they were cautiously optimistic about his recovery.
They gave him oxygen and a drug called Lasix to absorb the water in his lungs.
"He really seemed to be turning back into himself again," Baker said. "We were all breathing a little easier and then he just took a turn for the worse."
Between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m., Kedar napped and nursed, Baker said. His temperature periodically spiked and zoo officials cooled him with ice blankets and water, she said. At 4:30 p.m., Kedar's temperature was 101 degrees, about four degrees above normal.
Kedar's mother, Targa, seemed to know something was wrong with her baby, Baker said. Zoo workers had to give her a mild sedative because she became so agitated and protective of Kedar that the workers could not treat him.
"I think they have instincts, and her instincts were telling her that her baby was in distress," she said.
They gave him a blood transfusion from elephant Romani, but it didn't help. Less than two hours later he stopped breathing and his heart stopped, she said. They had done everything they could to try to save him, she said.
Kedar's body was transported to Cornell University for a necropsy, she said. According to zoo veterinary notes, Kedar died from severe respiratory embarrassment and a form of shock called disseminated intravascular coagulation.
"We're second-guessing everything we did," she said. "You can always do things a different way."
The zoo hashad the same procedure through five calves and everything has been fine, she said. When elephants fell in the pool, the mother could easily scoop them out without a problem, she said.
But because the well-intentioned but over-eager juvenile elephants rushed into the pool after Kedar, his mother, Targa, could not reach her baby, she said.
The zoo and the elephant exhibit will be open today.
Baker said the zoo will change its policy by the time the next baby elephant is born next summer. Perhaps the baby elephants will not be brought out so young; perhaps only two adult elephants will be allowed out with a calf at a time.
The pool cannot be drained and left open because the empty pool would pose a greater danger to the baby elephants, she said.
Targa will probablymourn her baby for a few days, Baker said. Eventually, the herd will reform and life will go back to normal. The grieving process, she said, will be a lot longer for the zoo staff members.
"The elephants will not go through the same thought processes that the staff will go through," she said.
"The elephants will go on. We'll all keep wishing we did something different."
Staff writer Mark Weiner contributed to this report.