The Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants filed a complaint Thursday over the death of the elephant Chai, who died eight-and-a-months after being relocated from Seattle to the Oklahoma City Zoo.
The complaint was filed with the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners against Oklahoma City Zoo veterinarian Dr. Jennifer D'Agostino.
Dr. Julia Allen from the Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants said Chai had several health problems before her death. On four different occasions she had trouble standing up, and during two of those incidents staff had to hoist her up. In her time at the Oklahoma City Zoo, Chai lost 1,000 pounds and also had low body fat as well as bacteria in the bloodstream also known as sepsis.
"The sepsis was a result of the skin abscesses that she had that were never properly treated,” Dr. Allen said. “Therefore they just kept festering, they invaded deeper into the body tissues, eventually got into the bloodstream and then caused sepsis."
The group said Chai's death in January was the result of inadequate health care. Dr. Allen also emphasized elephants are prescribed medicines based on weight.
"They consistently used weights that were outdated. In other words, they never checked her actual weight they just went with the last weight that they had in their records. They never looked to see that she had lost weight and therefore they needed to adjust what they were doing,” Allen said.
In a written statement, zoo director Dr. Dwight Larson said the Seattle group is manipulating facts and science. He also defended the zoo and the zoo's veterinarian.
“Our accreditation standards are rigorous and the zoo has been compliant with any concerns or allegations made against us,” Dr. Larson wrote. “The Zoo’s director of veterinary services, Dr. Jennifer D’Agostino, has over 15 years of experience in caring for and studying elephants.”
He added that the people who made the allegations against Dr. D’Agostino have “little or no experience with these animals.”
Another elephant from Seattle named Bamboo is at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants want Bamboo moved to a sanctuary.
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