The Hellabrunn elephant girl Jamuna Toni is dead. The condition of the six month old elephant baby took a rapid dramatic downturn at the weekend (June 12th/13th) and the team of vets looking after her decided, along with a committe made up of scientists and animal conservation experts, to end her suffering on Monday.
The very painful symptoms of bone displacement in the joints, which had been diagnosed on Friday morning in the front legs, expanded to include the back legs over the weekend. Even with the help of a support contraption, the small elephant could not stand any more, and had to be treated lying down. This, however, brought about acute circulation problems and pneumonia, which took their toll on her general condition. There is no treatment available which promises success. All attempts to save her, alongside consultation with leading wildlife medics, failed unfortunately.
The zoological director at Munich’s zoo, Dr. Andreas Knieriem, said: „We are shocked. The rapid and inexplicable progress of the illness took us aback and there are many questions open. The decision to put down Jamuna Toni was very hard for us to take. However, at the end, it was the only possible thing we could do for her. To keep her alive would not have been defensible in terms of animal protection. All of Hellabrunn zoo mourns our little baby elephant, who had become very dear to us in the last few months. For Jamuna Toni’s substitute parents, who looked after her from the moment of birth, this is a bitter end“.