Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium announced Thursday that a beloved member of the zoo family died.
Zoo officials say that a male African elephant named Warren died around 10:30 Thursday morning while under anesthesia. Staff at the zoo anesthetized the elephant to make a mold of a cracked tusk in order to make a prosthetic covering to protect the damaged tusk. About 20 minutes into the procedure, Warren's breathing slowed and then stopped. Emergency procedures were attempted, but were unsuccessful.
Dr. Doug Armstrong, the Director of Animal Health, says Warren had been anesthetized a number of times while at Henry Doorly, so his death is shocking. "He was a young animal, so this is completely unexpected."
Back in May, keepers noticed that Warren's tusk had small cracks at the tip, which is not uncommon for elephants, but the cracks were progressing towards the root canal. The tusk is a living tooth, so the veterinary team was concerned that the cracks would lead to a serious infection. In July, Warren was put under for a procedure to help stop the growth of the cracks and hopefully resolve the issue. Unfortunately in August, the team noticed new cracks forming, which prompted Thursday's procedure to make a mold of his tusk.
The mold would have enabled staff to create a metal prosthetic cap to put on the end of Warren's tusk to prevent further damage. Elephants use their tusks for everyday activities such as moving items and stripping bark off of trees, which are usually the causes of the cracks.
The cause of Warren's death is not known at this tie. Zoo veterinarian pathologist Dr. Allison Righton will perform a necropsy, an animal autopsy, to better understand what lead to Warren's death.
Warren was eight or nine years old when he was brought to the Henry Doorly Zoo from Swaziland in March of 2016. The zoo's General Curator Dan Cassidy says Warren formed bonds with not only the staff and visitors, but made deep connections with the other elephants as well. "Today we did something a little bit different then what we would ordinarily do following a death. We closed the building to the public and opened it back up to the other elephants and gave them the opportunity to grieve. They all came in very quietly and stood around in an unusual fashion. For them, usually they're moving around a lot, making a lot of noise and everything, they were very quiet. Each one reached out, in turn, and touched Warren." Warren says he has seen elephants in the wild mourn their dead, but has never seen anything like that in captivity.
Dr. Armstrong says he has reached out to the University of Nebraska to see if they would like Warren's bod y for their museum or research. He says if they do not want Warren, his body will be buried on zoo grounds.
(Photo courtesy of WOWT 6 News)