SALT LAKE CITY — Dari, a 55 1/2-year-old African elephant at Hogle Zoo and the oldest of her species in North America, died early Saturday.
Zoo staff arrived Saturday morning and found the elephant lying on the ground in her enclosure, unable to get up. It was the third time she was found on her side.
In May, Dari was on the ground until zoo staff brought in a crane and hoisted her up so she could stand and start eating. Since then, her health continued to decline, and veterinary staff decided Saturday to euthanize the elephant.
"We've been treating Dari for arthritis and other conditions associated with her age," senior veterinarian Dr. Nancy Carpenter said in a prepared statement. "She was starting to have more bad days than good and didn't have that fighting spirit. These are always difficult decisions."
Zoo spokeswoman Erica Hansen said Dari's death has been difficult for staff as well as the zoo's two other elephants, 26-year-old Christie and 6-year-old Zuri.
"They were allowed grieving time. That's customary in zoos. When you have animals that live together, they get some grieving time with the body after the animal passes, so they're aware of what happens. They'll likely go through a grieving process," Hansen said. "It's a sad time, not just for staff, but for the animals as well."
Dari came to Utah in 1967 and outlived the average life expectancy for elephants in the wild, which is 42 years. At the human age equivalent of over 90 years old, Dari now holds the record for the longest-lived African elephant in America, according to Hansen.
Elephant manager Eric Peterson, who worked with and trained Dari for almost 20 years, noted that the elephant had a loving personality despite being hard to train.
"She was a very hard elephant to get close to because she wanted to make sure you were trustworthy. But once you got through her tough exterior, she was very affectionate," Peterson said in a prepared statement. "She was the only elephant I've ever worked with that would seek out affection for no reason. If the other two elephants come over, they want to know what's in it for them. But she would just come up and want attention."
Hansen said it's still undecided whether the zoo will look at getting another elephant, either from another facility or through breeding Christie. For now, the zoo is going through the mourning process, she said.
"Your parents, your grandparents, your kids, everybody probably has a memory of Dari. It's amazing to think about how many lives she's touched, both with zoo visitors and also staff who got to work with her," she said. "They loved and cared for her, and it's just gone through generations of people. So it's a really big loss. She was just a beautiful embassador to her species."
Contributing: Nkoyo Iyamba
Email: mjacobsen@deseretnews.com
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