Article About PG Elephant Losing Her Baby

[saluki_fan]

Call me silly, and I hope it doesn't bother anyone that I posted this here, but this article is really getting to me today. Even DH was upset when he read about it in the paper yesterday. If memory serves me correctly, elephants are fairly intelligent animals and I wonder if the poor gal understands what is going on.

This really proves that Mother Nature can be a big huge bee-yatch sometimes.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/new...9?OpenDocument

Pregnant elephant loses her baby
By Diane Toroian Keaggy
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/19/2005

Hopes for a healthy elephant calf at the St. Louis Zoo were dashed Saturday. Curators determined that the calf carried by the Asian elephant Sri has died, the Zoo announced.

The death has devastated keepers, who have spent years preparing for the Zoo's first elephant birth since Raja's arrival almost 13 years ago. Sri's calf was sired by Raja.

"We never lost hope until this morning," said Martha Fischer, curator of mammals and ungulates. "It was tremendously exciting to care for Sri. We had so much hope."

Fischer is not entirely sure what went wrong, but it appears that Sri's calf, a female, never moved into the right position to trigger labor. Sri and her calf appeared healthy throughout the 22-month pregnancy, and when Sri's hormone levels dropped two weeks ago, elephant keepers prepared for labor to start.

When it did not, Fischer and her team weighed every option to deliver the calf. They could give Sri oxytocin to speed up labor, but that course works only if the calf is engaged in the cervix. Sri's calf was not. Could a C-section be performed? No. Mothers and calves never survive. The calf ultimately died in utero late last week.

"When her levels dropped, we were elated with hope, but as time went on and on, concern started to grow," said Fischer. "We considered every possible alternative, but, like with all animals and humans, there are some things that cannot be controlled. In the end it was up to Mother Nature. It was up to Sri."

Elephant reproductive specialist Dennis Schmitt of Missouri State University checked for fetal movement three times Friday and Saturday. Each test turned up negative. Schmitt said first-time mothers sometimes have difficult deliveries. He does not believe Sri's age, 25, played a role in the death.

"There are a lot of elephants that deliver without complications at that age," he said.

Sri was eating and moving normally in her yard Saturday afternoon. Fischer said other elephants have carried dead fetuses for a year or more before delivering them naturally. The calf could weigh up to 300 pounds.

"We will be monitoring Sri day by day," said Fischer. "The hope remains that she will breed in the future."

Fischer appeared shaky from exhaustion. She has not been home since Nov. 2, sleeping instead at nearby hotel or the elephant house. Her commitment was matched by elephant keepers who kept a 24-hour vigil over Sri for several weeks.

"We need some time to sleep and grieve," she said. "We will come back with a fresh mind and outlook."

Two other elephants - Ellie and Rani - are both expecting. Raja sired both calves. The St. Louis Zoo built a $6.6 million elephant facility and one-acre yard in 1999 to start a breeding program.

The Zoo is home to six females and Raja, the Zoo's most popular attraction. When Raja was born in 1992, more than 10,000 visitors turned out to celebrate his debut, and 43,000 people entered the Zoo's baby-naming contest. Every year, hundreds of visitors turn out for Raja's birthday party. The Zoo staff expected the same excitement to surround this calf's birth.

"It's hard to describe, but we felt the support from the people," said Fischer. "It is amazing how much interest there is. They are there when you have something to celebrate and to catch you when things go wrong."

[jnmanderson]

That is so sad! She may not understand all the details - but I believe that a mother knows! You are 100% right about mother nature

[GabrielsMom]

That is really sad. All I can think about, though, is that I wish me and my baby got that much attention. How sad is it that I am jealous of an elephant?

[saluki_fan]

That is really sad. All I can think about, though, is that I wish me and my baby got that much attention. How sad is it that I am jealous of an elephant?

You know what, Adrianne, you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. I can't believe the paper can write an article about this, and about the bedrest study, all in the same day, but yet they can't publish an article about pregnancy loss (1st-tri, 2nd-tri, and 3rd-tri - at any rate, I've NEVER seen any articles or features about the topic in this newspaper).

I am going to write to the STL Post-Dispatch Health Editor about it! You have inspired me!

[GabrielsMom]

Wow.. cool! You go girl!

[Reebekah]

i saw a tv show on animal planet a few months ago where an elephant kept having "miscarriages" before her baby could fully develop. i also read a post on one of my IC groups awhile back where a cat that was supposed to be used for breeding kept having her babies prematurely and they didn't live...so then (ironically) the cat was adopted by a lady in the IC group who was determined to help both herself AND her cat have a successful pregnancy. i just cant help but wonder how mother nature got so screwed up somehow.

[SheriKCMO]

[skyler]

poor baby. I would think she knows something is wrong. I think it is easer for people to "relate" to a animal loseing a calf, then for a person to lose a baby. Mostly because people dont want to talk about losses, 1st tri, 2nd, or 3rd.

[VivC]

I agree with Skyler. People think if they ignore losses, the problem doesn't exist.

Poor Sri!

Viv

[*Shellie_Star*]

Really sad

I saw a programme about elephants earlier this year, they are so intelligent. It was about a herd of elephants which the TV crew followed for many years, documenting their progress/babies/news etc.,

One year, one of the elephants passed away whilst they were travelling and every year the herd went back to the exact spot where she had passed away. They were mourning the spot every year and it was really upsetting that they could remember that, many years on, the exact spot........

[AvivaElona]

Vale little elephant baby. healing vibes for Sri.

I think people can grieve for an elephant because it is one step removed and safer, it seems sad but you don't have to imagine exactly how sad. If people really think about mom's losing their babies I think it just hurts too much and the temptation is to wall it off so they don't have to think about it.

Aviva

[MommyOAnna]

Human or animal....it is still sad.

It is nice that her keepers didn't treat it simply like "oh well it happens sometimes" in the way that so many people seem to treat both human and animal losses.