Pittsburgh Zoo's Baby Elephant Dies

PITTSBURGH, PA - The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium’s three-month-old baby elephant has died, zoo officials announced Wednesday. After having been born prematurely and having stopped eating during teething, the animal was euthanized.

“Our hearts are broken, it’s just devastating,” zoo president and CEO Barbara Baker said. “She touched so many people in such a short time. We did everything we could to possibly care for her, but unfortunately in the end it just wasn’t enough.”

Zoo officials had hoped the recent insertion of a feeding tube would help and as recently as Aug. 20 tweeted a video of the elephant picking up Cheerios with its trunk. But the animal did not gain sufficient weight for survival.

The average gestation for a female African elephant calf is 645 days, and this calf arrived prematurely at 615 days. The calf weighed only 184 lbs., 52 lbs. below the average African elephant calf weight. When her mother rejected her and had no milk, and her bloodwork indicated that the calf was compromised, she was brought to the zoo.

The zoo consulted with elephant experts from around the world, including the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the world leader in saving orphaned elephant calves.

"When we spoke with them, they assured us that it was a normal occurrence for calves who are teething to not have an appetite and to lose weight," Baker said. “But they also warned us that sometimes the little calves can't recover from the weight loss and they pass away as a result."

The veterinary team will be doing a full necropsy on the elephant. Results of the necropsy won’t be available for several weeks.

Photo by Brant via Creative Commons.