Gita the Elephant Dies Prematurely In Los Angeles Zoo
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LOS ANGELES – An Asian elephant has died at the Los Angeles Zoo, where critics have charged the animals are kept in unhealthy conditions.
Gita, 48, was found sitting down when keepers went to her yard Saturday morning. A “medical response” failed, a zoo spokesman, Jason Jacobs, said in a statement.
A necropsy was planned to determine the cause of death.
Gita, who came to Southern California in 1959, was one of three elephants at the zoo. She has had arthritis and a history of foot problems, and underwent surgery last year to remove portions of a toe from her left front foot.
The living conditions of the zoo’s elephants were closely examined after the death of Tara, a 39-year-old African elephant who died of heart failure in 2004.
Critics have long said the zoo’s elephant enclosures are too small for animals that can roam up to 10 miles in the wild and that the hard packed soil and concrete are brutal on their feet. Zoo officials dispute the charges.
A city report released last year said the elephants are well tended but need far more space.
