Animal obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2003:

Kin, 36, the last wild crested ibis to hatch in Japan, on
October 10 hurled herself headfirst into a door at the Sado Crested
Ibis Preservation Center, 190 miles northwest of Tokyo, and died of
a brain hemorrhage. Removed from the wild in 1968 for captive
breeding, Kin never produced offspring, and had been the last
wild-hatched crested ibis in Japan since her mate Midori died in
1995. Hunted to the verge of extinction, crested ibises won legal
protection in 1934. In 1999 the Sado Center received a pair of
crested ibises as a gift from former Chinese president Jiang Zemin.
The Chinese crested ibises have now fledged 21 offspring, some of
whom are to be reintroduced to the wild in 2007.

Tammy, 53, one of three elephants deemed surplus by the
Milwaukee County Zoo and housed under allegedly abusive conditions by
the Hawthorne Corporation until a 1994 transfer to the Performing
Animal Welfare Society, died in September at the PAWS sanctuary in
Galt, California.

Casey A., 52, believed to be the oldest captive-born bull
elephant in North America, died on September 23 at the Kansas City
Zoo. Casey A. and Lady A., who died in 1971, were donated to the
zoo in 1955 by the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, whose
emblem was a white elephant, when the team relocated to Kansas City.
They were retired as occasional mascots after the late Charles O.
Finley bought the team and changed the team emblem and mascot to a
Missouri mule, named after himself. The mule moved to Oakland with
the team after the 1967 season.

Fanny/Tara, 60, died on Septem-ber 6 at the Fund for
Animals’ Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary near Tyler, Texas. Of
uncertain origin, she performed with the Ringling Bros. Barnum &
Bailey Circus during the 1950s, then was star attraction at the
Slater Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. Sent to the Black
Beauty Ranch, she was renamed Tara after a “Free Fanny!” campaign
led by Defenders of Animals closed the zoo in 1993.

Reveille VI, 10, the American collie who served as Texas
A&M Uiversity football mascot 1993-2001, and was an invited guest at
the inaugural ball for President George W. Bush, was euthanized on
October 18 due to multiple debilitating ailments. Dognapped in 1993
by persons still unknown, Reveille VI was found near Austin several
days later.

Royal Lord, Beautiful Norse, Storm Again, Bonzer, and Old
Fashioned, five of the most distinguished race horses in India,
were among 10 who died from colic on October 24-25 at the Bangalore
Turf Club after apparently eating a batch of Rhodes grass with
excessively high nitrate content. At least 14 other horses fell
ill. The episode caused numerous trainers to withdraw their entries
from the October 26 Mysore Derby.

Doetab, 50, a wild but friendly bull elephant long popular
with visitors to the Huab lodge near Grootberg, Namibia, was
reportedly shot in October by a trophy hunter.