Zoo elephant died after fall

Petal, the Philadelphia Zoo's beloved African elephant, died of acute heart and lung failure after she fell on her side while sleeping, zoo officials said yesterday.

What's more, the 52-year-old pachyderm, the oldest of her kind in an American zoo, suffered from an underlying condition related to aging - heart disease, according to autopsy results released Tuesday.

"Like some elderly people, older animals are often able to compensate for chronic health problems up to a point, but when something goes wrong, you can have a sudden dramatic worsening of their condition," said Keith Hinshaw, the zoo's director of animal health.

Videotape showed Petal "seemed fine" on June 8, Hinshaw said. She played with water, ate well, and interacted with the zoo's two other elephants.

As Petal drifted off to sleep from a typical standing position that night, Hinshaw said, the 9,000-pound beast began leaning on a wall for balance. That in itself was not unusual, as elephants move around a lot at night, he said.

About 4:20 the next morning, though, as she began an episode of deep sleep, she lost her balance, Hinshaw said. She went down on one hind leg, and from there fell onto her side.

She tried to get to her feet, but arthritis found later in her hips, knees and elbows made it impossible for her to roll onto her stomach to position herself for standing, Hinshaw said.

The stress of trying to rise likely damaged her heart and lungs, Hinshaw said. That, combined with the underlying heart disease, made breathing labored.

By the time Hinshaw and handlers rushed to her side at 7 a.m., there was nothing they could do to reverse the damage, the veterinarian said.

"She was fairly weak, breathing more heavily than elephants would without changes in the heart and lungs," Hinshaw said.

Petal stopped breathing and died at 9:15 a.m. in her zoo enclosure. At autopsy, pathologists found scarring of Petal's heart muscle and valves, left there by age-related heart disease.

It's not known what caused Petal to fall. Tests on brain tissue showed no sign of a stroke, but not all parts of the brain were tested, Hinshaw said.

Hinshaw said animal handlers did not pick up on Petal's chronic heart ailment sooner because "in a zoo situation, we're typically not looking at healthy animals for heart disease."

Marianne Bessey, a Delaware County lawyer and spokeswoman for the activists' group Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants, said the group was not satisfied with the results of the autopsy.

"These are preliminary findings," she said. "Until we get a full medical history, we don't know what caused her death."

Immediately after Petal's death, In Defense of Animals, an animal-rights group in California, called for a probe by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, citing "unanswered questions." The USDA found no "signs of noncompliance or any issues with the welfare of the animal," its spokesman said.

The animal group did not comment on the autopsy findings last night, although it was given a chance to.

The zoo has 1,300 animals. Until last year, there were four elephants, all female. But in 2006, the zoo determined that it could not raise the millions needed to expand its elephant facility. The following year, its Asian elephant, Dulary, was sent to live in an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.

African elephants Bette and Kallie, both in their 20s, also will be moved, to the International Conservation Center in Somerset County, now under construction.

As a precaution, the pair were kept in Philadelphia until tests were complete on their lungs. At autopsy, pathologists found latent traces of a bacteria that can cause tuberculosis in Petal's lung tissue, according to preliminary test results.