The National Zoo has made great strides in its animal care since 2000. Between that year and 2005, the Zoo lost red pandas to rat poison, zebras to starvation and hypothermia, an oryx from neglect after delivering a baby, and a handful of other animals from various seemingly preventable causes. Just last year, the Zoo lost a healthy camel and was forced to euthanize a giraffe after unsuccessful surgery to remove a tumor.

In recent months, attention had been drawn to Toni, a 40-year old Asian elephant that had been suffering from arthritis for nearly twenty years, since injuring her leg before coming to the National Zoo. Zoo officials have maintained that Toni was responding well to treatment for the arthritis last fall, though the website Save Elephants in Zoos alleges that the treatment was palliative, consisting only of two daily ibuprofen doses of 9,000 milligrams each. A group calling itself “Friends of Toni” had protested that the elephant’s concrete enclosure was making the animal’s condition worse and asked that Toni be moved to an animal sanctuary with more natural conditions. With Toni’s condition deteriorating rapidly, however, the Zoo made the decision to euthanize the elephant, saying the animal might not survive a trip to a sanctuary (failing to note that the elephant would also probably not survive euthansia).

The Elephant House at the National Zoo will be closed until next week, but the remaining pachyderms will be visible in their outdoor yard.

Picture taken from helpelephants.com.