Oklahoma City Zoo Oklahoma City Zoo News

dcpandafan said:
Do you think that there's a chance that Malee and Chais are related?
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Yes and no.

I don't believe that Chai's death was related to Malee's in any way, but I would not be surprised if Chai played a part in Malee's.

Now Chai and or Bamboo are know carriers for EEHV, as they lost Chai's calve Hansa to it. What this means of course is that periodically whichever elephant has it will shed the virus, which is when it is open for contagion to other elephants. Now being from Dickerson Park it is likely that Asha and Chandra are already carrying some strain of EEHV, however Chai/Bamboo could have brought in a different variant of the virus that ended up killing Malee.

Now like I said, this is nothing but pure conjecture on my half, but at the same time, I feel like sending Chai and Bamboo to OKC was not a good idea.
 
Also, I heard somewhere that Zoos can't test their elephants calves for EEHV at the zoos, and they have to always send samples to labs at SNZ where they test them
For everything and send all the info back. I think that in the future, it would be better to get this technology at all zoos who breed elephants since I think it would help lower infant deathes. Then again, I might be wrong and they might be testing calves frequently at the zoos they live at already.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
Also, I heard somewhere that Zoos can't test their elephants calves for EEHV at the zoos, and they have to always send samples to labs at SNZ where they test them
For everything and send all the info back. I think that in the future, it would be better to get this technology at all zoos who breed elephants since I think it would help lower infant deathes. Then again, I might be wrong and they might be testing calves frequently at the zoos they live at already.
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I don't know if samples can only be tested at the SNZ. But the reason why they help with almost all cases and test samples is because they have a whole lab and a team of scientist dedicated to the disease.

And the first case where they could identify the disease happened there (which is why they have the lab).
 
Condolences to 'boo, the herd and staff. Hope the necropsy sheds some light into what led to her demise. I'll toss fracking into the ring. All the environmental damage and effects from such a way of gathering energy for greed.
 
Malee's death was caused by infection with EEHV1a, whereas Hansa (Chai's daughter who died at WPZ) died of EEHV3. Though it probably isn't possible to document every single strain of EEHV infecting the animals, it seems much more likely that Malee caught it from her mother or aunt, both of whom carry EEHV1a. Even Kandula probably carries some form of EEHV, as it killed his older sister Kumari at the National Zoo.

Hopefully the zoo finds what caused Chai's death, and Bamboo gets along well with her herdmates.
 
marshwiggle said:
Malee's death was caused by infection with EEHV1a, whereas Hansa (Chai's daughter who died at WPZ) died of EEHV3. Though it probably isn't possible to document every single strain of EEHV infecting the animals, it seems much more likely that Malee caught it from her mother or aunt, both of whom carry EEHV1a. Even Kandula probably carries some form of EEHV, as it killed his older sister Kumari at the National Zoo.

Hopefully the zoo finds what caused Chai's death, and Bamboo gets along well with her herdmates.
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Completely agree with you, in fact it is my understanding that they now suspect that it is transmitted in utero, rather than after birth, thus meaning that there is a strong likelihood that she got it from her mother and not someone else.

The Zoo's website currently says that the preliminary autopsy results haven't given them any further clues and that they need to wait for the lab results to come back. It seems that we will be waiting a while before we find out just what killed her, if ever.
 
The final results of Chai's necropsy have been released. Her skeleton is currently at the Museum of Osteology in OKC (it is so weird, thinking of her body being reduced to a skeleton now). It turns out that her teeth had some deformities that were undetectable while she was alive. It is likely to have progressively worsened during her life and is thought to have been untreatable:

OKC Zoo Releases Elephant Chai's Necropsy Results - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
 
TZFan said:
Elephant, Malee, died from a strain of herpes virus that Chai was infected with at the time of Malee's passing.

OKC Zoo Releases New Information On Death Of 4-Year-Old Elephant - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |
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I KNEW IT!!!

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!!!!

Although it ended up being the same strain already found within the herd, which did differ slightly from my original notion, exactly as I originally said it was indeed the transfer of the Woodland Park females (Chai specifically) that directly led to Malee's death.

I stand by my original statement stating OKC become greedy with the unwise acquisition of Chai and Bamboo. They are now back to their original number (6 animals), but with 1 less breedable female and one more geriatric, non-breeding female, and a vast amount more of negative publicity. Was it worth it? No. Not in the slightest. Hopefully they will use this as a learning experience, and not become greedy again in the future.
 
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Hyak_II said:
I KNEW IT!!!

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!!!!

Although it ended up being the same strain already found within the herd, which did differ slightly from my original notion, exactly as I originally said it was indeed the transfer of the Woodland Park females (Chai specifically) that directly led to Malee's death.

I stand by my original statement stating OKC become greedy with the unwise acquisition of Chai and Bamboo. They are now back to their original number (7 animals), but with 1 less breedable female and one more geriatric, non-breeding female, and a vast amount more of negative publicity. Was it worth it? No. Not in the slightest. Hopefully they will use this as a learning experience, and not become greedy again in the future.
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*6, Asha, Chandra, Bamboo, Achara, Rex, and Kandula. Their original number though was 2, just Asha and Chandra. I had suspected something like this would happen also, Chai was send to Springfield to mate with Onyx, Asha and Chandra's father, which is an infamous hot spot for EEHV also claiming the life of Chai's previous calf and many of Asha and Chandra's siblings. The only surviving offspring of Onyx if I'm correct is Asha, Chandra, Shanti (Houston), and Raja (St. Louis). Sneezy, Malee's father, lost his only other calf (Maverick) to EEHV as well so I'm sure that the risk of Malee contracting the virus was an unfortunate possibility.

I don't necessarily agree that acquiring Chai and Bamboo was a selfish act however, herds naturally contain females of older age who contribute their attributed to younger females and calves. Asha and Chandra were sold and sent to the okc zoo at a very young age and possessed relatively poor social skills given that they were the only 2 animals. So I think adding older females really enhanced their herd dynamic, not just for Asha and Chandra but for Malee and Achara as well. There was certainly a risk with integrating the girls given Bamboo's past and inability it integrate well with other elephants but both were great here in OKC. I think also if you look at other institutions there really weren't many other options of where to send the girls. A lot of people had mentioned/speculated LA but I think that given the controversy of LA and their history and relationship with PETA regarding elephant management and the controversy surrounding moving the girls that this wouldn't have been the best decision. Denver was also a location rumored but Denvers goal is to focus on managing Bulls. Yes, this would have provided Dolly with a companion but what would have happened if say, Dolly, or one of the Seattle girls passed away? Then the number would have been reduced back down to 2 animals in s social setting which wasn't the goal for the girls. I really don't think there was anywhere else the girls could've gone and I do think okc was the best option, space and herd wise....that's my opinion.
 
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