Animal Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2001:

#346, 22, reputedly the smartest and most prolific
livestock killer among all Montana male grizzlies, and one of the
oldest wild male grizzlies on record, was killed on April 18 at the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks laboratory in
Bozeman. He apparently learned to kill cattle from a female, #316,
circa 1984. They were trapped and tattooed together in 1985. #316
was shot for continued cattle-killing in 1987, but #346 went on to
devour an estimated $200,000 worth of livestock, evading 13 years of
determined efforts to kill him. “This was a smart bear,”
understated biologist Mike Madel. The USDA Wildlife Services
trappers who finally brought him in agreed that they would probably
never have nabbed him if he had not been slowed by conditions of age.

Kelpie, 17, the eldest of Queen Elizabeth II’s seven dogs,
was euthanized on April 22 due to conditions of age. She was buried
at Windsor Castle. The Queen has kept members of her line since 1933.
Joom, 9, a rare twin elephant, died suddenly on March 16
at the Khao Kheow open zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand, several hours
after exhibiting vomiting, bloat, and wild behavior, attacking her
keeper. Her twin, Jim, survived in very depressed spirits. Senior
zoo veterinarian Wanchai Tanwattana said he had never before seen her
combination of symptoms, but suspected she had somehow ingested an
insecticide.

Madu, 2, a Malaysian sunbear cub, died on April 21 during
dental surgery at the Wellington Zoo in Wellington, New Zealand,
where he was just the seventh of his species born in captivity since
1996. A necropsy discovered a hole in his heart, a congenital
defect which increased his susceptibility to prolonged anesthesia.
Madu and his twin brother Arataki were scheduled for transfer to the
Canberra Zoo in Australia, where they were to be introduced to
females. Arataki will now have them to himself. The twin sun bears
were featured in a TV ad for Arataki Honey.

Suzy, 28, a female chimpanzee resident of the Chimparty
compound owned by Missouri Primate Foundation founders Connie and
Mike Casey in Jefferson County, escaped on April 19 and was
tranquilizer-darted by Connie Casey, but was then shotgunned by an
18-year-old neighbor as Casey tried to put herself between him and
Suzy. Three witnesses agreed that Suzy was already unconscious or
nearly so, and was no longer a threat to the boy and two other male
teens, although she earlier damaged a car that they were inside. “I
just got myself a monkey,” the boy was said to have boasted.
Possible charges are under investigation, said Jefferson County
prosecutor Bob Wilkins.

Ragtail, a pregnant manatee “adopted” by more than 600
members of the Save The Manatee Club, on March 24 was the 24th of
her species to be killed by a boat this year.

Twilight, 6, a female tiger, on April 7 escaped with her
companions Rani and Apache from her cage on the property of Tony
Cavaliere in Van Buren County, Arkansas, after someone left the
door open in an apparent act of vandalism, and died during recapture
from an apparent bad reaction to tranquilization. The other tigers
were recaptured safely. Rani was found lying beside a pond amid a
herd of horses, whom he had made no effort to attack. The tigers
were relocated to Van Buren County from the Cavaliere home in
Treasure Hills in September 2000 after a local court ruled that
keeping them violated zoning. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed
the ruling three days before Twilight’s death.