Animal Obituaries [April 2001]
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2001:
Animal Obituaries
Clearpath, a peregrine falcon who had lived on the Bond Court office building in downtown Cleveland, was widowed during the winter and tried to move to the Terminal Tower nesting box used for the past two years by another peregrine, Zenith. They met in a March 23 duel to the death partially captured by FalconCam (www.falconcam.apk.net).
Carhartt, a member of Anchorage Daily News reporter Jon Little’s Iditarod Trail racing team, died abruptly on March 9 in Eagle River from a rare bacterial infection, four days after Little left him with co-worker Melissa DeVaughn because he seemed too tired to go on. Carhartt was among two dogs who died during the 2001 Iditarod. Several other dogs were injured when their teams were run over by snowmobilers.
Igor, two-and-a-half, a member of Nenana musher Carrie Farr’s Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race team, on February 19 became the second of two dogs to die mysteriously near the Eagle checkpoint.
Robby, 8, the lame U.S. Marine Corps bomb-sniffing dog whose plight inspired a new federal law to let the U.S. military retire old working dogs, was euthanized on January 19 due to severe arthritis.
Papa, 53, reputedly the oldest Nile hippo in captivity, was euthanized due to multiple painful conditions of age on February 26 at the Dallas Zoo, his home of 40 years.
Misty, 24, the last Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at the Mystic Aquarium in Stonington, Connecticut, died on March 15 from complications of a bacterial infection. Her death came two months after that of her companion, Stormy, 5, who was rescued in 1998 after he lost his mother in a tropical storm, suffered serious shark bites, and washed ashore near Port Aransas, Texas. He was saved by members of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, who had to
hold him afloat to enable him to breathe.
Destiny, a nine-day-old dolphin calf born to Dophin Research Center resident Aleta, but on March 6 quickly passed to Tursi, another pregnant dolphin, suddenly died in the arms of her caretakers on March 15. Though Aleta showed no interest in Destiny, Tursi reportedly made every effort to nurse Destiny as if she were her own calf.
Mr. Mags, a striped dolphin who became separated from his mother, died on March 13 at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida, where he was sent to receive longterm care. Volunteers at the Virginia Marine Science Museum kept him alive for six days after finding him stranded.
Sophie, a female coyote who was radio-collared last fall in Presque Isle State Park, Michigan, was found roadkilled circa March 20 in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, near Cleveland, about 80 miles from Presque Isle.
Severino, 20, the last wild Sphix macaw, has not been seen since September and is presumed dead after repeated usuccessful searches of his habitat in the Curaca region of northeastern Brazil. There are 66 Sphix macaws in captivity, six of them in Brazil.
Martha-One-Wing, the misnamed male bald eagle who for 15 years was traveling ambassador for the Arkansas and U.S. Eagle Awareness Programs, died on January 26 at the home of Jane and Tom Gulley, his caretakers ever since he was found with a crippling gunshot wound in 1978.
Jiggs, 35, a Bornean orangutan captured from the wild in 1966, resident at the Seneca Park Zoo since 1992, died from a stroke on January 17. Jiggs was noted for his gentle play with young orangutans.
Sonny, 21, an African elephant captured in Zimbabwe during a cull at about age 2, died on February 22 at the Popcorn Park Zoo, the exotic animal care facility of the Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey. Popcorn Park director John Bergmann became Sonny’s caregiver after keepers at several other zoos found Sonny too hard to handle.
Smokey, 29, brought to the Oakland Zoo from Kruger National Park in South Africa in 1975, died on March 11. Among the few successful stud bulls among the U.S. captive African elephant herd, Smokey sired four offspring, but none lived longer than 11 months. In 1991 Smokey kicked to death 25-year veteran handler Lorne Jackson, of Hayward, causing the Oakland Zoo to go to the “protected contact” style of elephant keeping.
