Toni the Elephant Euthanized

Animal Rights Groups Had Urged National Zoo to Move Her

Toni the elephant leans back to ease leg pain at the National Zoo last Thursday. She was euthanized yesterday. (By Larry Morris -- The Washington Post)

An ailing National Zoo elephant, whose worsening arthritis made her the flashpoint of a debate over whether her species belongs in zoos, was euthanized yesterday after her condition deteriorated dramatically.

Toni, an Asian elephant, was 40 years old, about two decades short of the typical expected lifespan. She had been at the Smithsonian Institution animal park since 1989. Zoo officials said her arthritis, caused by a leg injury at a previous zoo, flared up in the summer and was only temporarily brought under control by large doses of ibuprofen. She lost hundreds of pounds and her muscles shrank.

Only a week ago, zoo officials downplayed the possibility of euthanasia, but their assessment changed in recent days. Keepers noticed her trying to take weight off her front legs by leaning on her trunk, by rocking back on her hind legs and by sitting down. Toni appeared unsteady, especially at night, to the point that one keeper stayed over with her on Monday to make sure she was all right.

Finally, on Tuesday, they upped her pain medication significantly "to give her one peaceful night," National Zoo Director John Berry said. Three keepers spent the night with her, feeding her watermelon, pineapple and other treats.

"Her discomfort outweighed her happy moments," Berry said. "It was the appropriate time to euthanize her."

The zoo now has three elephants: Ambika, a female in her late 50s; Shanthi, a female in her early 30s; and Kandula, Shanthi's male offspring born in 2001. The elephant house will be closed until Monday, officials said, to give the animals time to adjust to their new circumstances. Shanthi and Kandula had been separated from Toni and Ambika because of fear that the young elephant might be too rambunctious for an arthritic older animal. Now, the remaining three will be housed together.

Animal rights groups, saying the close confinement and hard floors in zoos are not appropriate places to keep elephants, had urged the National Zoo to move Toni to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee where she would have more space and a more natural habitat. Zoo officials rejected calls to move their animal, saying she might not survive the journey and would be comfortable and well cared for in a familiar environment.

"It's shameful that the National Zoo allowed her to decline to this point," said Suzanne Roy, program director for In Defense of Animals, which opposes keeping elephants in zoos. "Toni's death should prompt serious reevaluation of the National Zoo's ability to care for elephants. The zoo simply does not have the space to meet the vast needs of earth's largest land mammal."

Under pressure from animal rights organizations, three zoos have discontinued their elephant exhibits in the past year, and the Philadelphia zoo suspended plans to build a new and larger elephant habitat. But, according to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, most accredited zoos that have elephants -- 40 of 78 -- plan to expand or build new facilities for those animals in the next five years.

Among them is the National Zoo, where Berry said he hopes to unveil design plans within a month, and begin a three-year construction project in September. The zoo director said he hopes to replace the 1930s-era elephant house at the main Rock Creek Park location and add a 100-acre or 200-acre facility at the zoo's research center in Front Royal. He said the zoo may try for a new baby elephant, which would have a two-year gestation, by artificially inseminating Shanthi again this year.

Berry said Toni "received the highest standards of care," and that the new facility would provide even better housing. He rejected the idea that elephants do not belong in zoos, saying captive facilities build public appreciation for the dwindling population of Asian elephants in the wild, which "could go extinct in our lifetime" unless people care enough to save them.

Zoo officials said they were puzzled about whether problems beyond arthritis may have hastened Toni's decline, given that she was eating well but still losing muscle and weight. Results of a 14-hour necropsy by zoo pathologists, with assistance from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, may answer that question within a few months. Toni's remains will be cremated at the University of Maryland, Berry said.