Baby Jade
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the St. Louis Zoo, where Seattle elephant Sri was shipped off several years ago (so much for zoos not wanting to break important elephant bonds) has discovered a case of deadly herpes virus in their 2-year-old elephant, Jade. Our own Woodland Park Zoo is mentioned in this article as yet another zoo who has lost a young elephant to herpes.
Jade, a 23-month-old Asian elephant at the St. Louis Zoo, has been diagnosed with a strain of herpes that has proven fatal to elephants at other zoos and in the wild.
Jade is receiving antiviral medication and round-the-clock care from the veterinary and keeper staff, the zoo said.
She had been acting lethargic Sunday. A blood sample submitted to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park’s elephant herpes research laboratory Monday revealed the presence of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, or EEHV. The virus causes a bleeding disease in elephants.
In just the past two years, the disease has killed elephants at the Calgary Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, the Houston Zoo and the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo. The disease is responsible for half of the deaths in young elephants, according to the National Zoo. That concerns zoos because elephants have had difficulty breeding in captivity and have a high infant mortality rate.
Read the full story here.
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