Elephant's trunk severed at Valley Zoo, Eighteen-year-old Samantha injured reaching for latch, but she'll still be able to
provide for herself
2006-08-30
by: Tim Lai, Edmonton Journal
The African elephant at Edmonton's Valley Zoo lost 20 centimeters of her trunk after it got caught as she reached for a gate latch in her enclosure.
"Although it may hamper her in some aspects, we expect a full recovery and her to return to normal without too much difficulty," said Dean Treichel, operations supervisor at the zoo.
"I think she'll lose the ability to pick up really tiny items (as small as a quarter), but she'll still be able to provide for herself and care for herself like a normal elephant."
Trunks are the single most important organ for an elephant, enabling them to touch, grasp and smell. They're strong enough to uproot a tree and threaten a predator, but gentle enough to greet another animal or use a paint brush on a canvas.
Zookeepers let 18-year-old Samantha into her outdoor enclosure Sunday at about 8:15 a.m. When they drove back past her around 8:30, they noticed something wrong with her trunk.
"Nobody heard a thing," Treichel said. "There was very little blood loss, the body's mechanisms just took over."
Treichel said officials immediately brought her back inside for a closer look and discovered the tear. Veterinarians will let the wound heal on its own without stitches.
Treichel called the incident a "freak accident" adding that zoo officials have not had a problem with that latch in the five years it has been in operation.
Samantha is now under 24-hour supervision from veterinarians and zoo officials. Since her trunk is still tender, she is being hand-fed her daily doses of hay, fruits and vegetables, even eating more than normal.
"We're trying to make sure that the injury remains clean and has proper time to heal," Treichel said.
Samantha and her Asian counterpart, Lucy, are now living separately, but they can have contact through a fence. The two are well-known throughout the city's art community for their vibrant paintings.
"I think she (Lucy) senses that something is definitely different right now. I don't know if she noticed something at that particular moment," Treichel said.
Samantha will be off display to the public for at least six weeks and will recover inside the zoo's elephant house.
Treichel said zoo officials contacted other elephant experts in North America asking how to treat Samantha. Other specialists have said elephants adapt well to injuries similar to this, he added.
Treichel said elephants in the wild can lose part of their trunk - to an alligator at a watering hole, for example - but Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck Canada, believes that's rather far-fetched after talking with experts in Africa.
"It sounds like an inexcusable injury. That's a severe injury for an elephant," Laidlaw said.
He said it's unfortunate that elephants are kept in Edmonton. "It's a very northern city and it's just not conductive to elephant keeping," Laidlaw said. "The climate is the primary concern and it's a very small inner-city zoo."
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