4-year-old elephant dies suddenly at Oklahoma City Zoo

Sad news from the Oklahoma City Zoo, 4-year-old elephant, Malee, died early Thursday morning.

Regardless of the cause, Malee’s death is sure to fuel the debate over captive breeding of elephants. They later noticed a discoloration in her mouth, and started treatment for elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus, or EEHV. They say zoo keepers noticed she was moving slower than normal on Wednesday, but she was eating and otherwise acted normal. She declined rapidly and passed away this morning.

Overcast skies reflected the somber mood at the Oklahoma City Zoo as staff and even the elephants mourn the loss of “Malee”.

According to a press release from the zoo, this strain of EEHV will likely be related to or similar to the strain that caused illness in Malee’s aunt, Chandra.

The investigation also found that for every elephant born in a zoo, an average of two elephants die. Statistics show that the number of elephants dying in captivity is 3 times bigger than those who die in wilderness. After a certain period, the stuff from the zoo moved two elephants, Chai and Bamboo, to the Oklahoma City Zoo.

“We have specific protocols to treat and intervene in case we were concerned which were implemented in this case”, said Lawson.

Zoo officials dismissed the fear, saying that most elephants carry one of more types of the herpes virus, as reported by The Seattle Times.