http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=3729951

Columbus Zoo investigates elephant death

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A young male Asian elephant was found dead in his stall at the Columbus Zoo on Tuesday, officials said.

Ganesh was 7 years old and weighed in the neighborhood of 7,000 pounds, not even half grown, according to assistant zoo director Don Winstel.

The tentative diagnosis following a necropsy was that Ganesh died of a viral infection from a strain of herpes that is specific to elephants, Winstel said. Final results may not be known for a week.

"In some cases, animals die, and you can never really put your finger on why, but the pathologists are already making remarkable progress and I'm optimistic that they will be able to put the pieces together this time," Winstel said.

The elephant had been on loan from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, where he was born in 1998. He was moved to the Columbus Zoo's Pachyderm exhibit in 2003 because he was too temperamental, and the exhibit has more space for male elephants and better equipment for restraining them when needed, Winstel said.

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