Ruby
David G. McIntyre/Phoenix Zoo

Ruby dies after surgery

Uterine damage, infection spur euthanasia decision

By Barbara Yost and Julie Amparano
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 7, 1998

His socks and athletic shoes stained with blood, consulting veterinarian Joe Fourner had the sad task Friday of explaining why a medical team had to put Ruby the elephant to sleep.

"Bad luck," the Chicago large-animal vet said soberly, flanked by Phoenix Zoo officials and Dr. Kathy Orr, the zoo's chief veterinarian.

In lay terms, the beloved pachyderm who has delighted the Valley for almost 25 years with her personality and flair for painting, suffered a ruptured uterus sometime in the past week or two, sending her full-term male calf tumbling into its mother's abdominal cavity.

Lodged in the abdomen, the 320-pound calf began to decompose. Infection set in.

Doctors are unsure what caused the event or exactly when the calf died. Results of lab tests and a necropsy will be available in about a week.

After attempting a Caesarean section to remove the dead calf Friday morning, the surgical team decided that Ruby's uterus could not be repaired and that she was dying of infection.

At 12:50 p.m., Phoenix Zoo executive director Jeff Williamson gave the go-ahead to euthanize the 9,000-pound animal. Ruby never woke up.

Barbara Walker
Tim Koors/The Arizona Republic

Phoenix Zoo volunteer Barbara Walker weeps at the zoo's elephant exhibit after learning of Ruby's death.

"There was no potential for Ruby to survive," Williamson said at a news conference Friday afternoon. He and surgeons determined that "it would not be possible (for Ruby) to recover from the uterine trauma."

Ruby's uterus had split in three directions, said Fourner, the world's leading expert on elephant C-sections who was brought in to lead the team. Some undetected underlying disease could have caused the uterine wall to weaken and burst.

Zoo medical staff had no clues that Ruby, 22 months pregnant, was in trouble. She exhibited few signs of pain. Exotic animals, Fourner explained, are genetically designed to mask symptoms of illness that might make them vulnerable to predators.

"She looked remarkably good considering how sick she was," he said.

But minutes into the surgery, which began about 11:45 a.m. Friday, Fourner saw and smelled the massive infection, the odor of which clung to his surgical garb. He despaired of saving the elephant.

"The condition of the uterus destroyed our chances," he said.

Following word of Ruby's death, zoo employes, including Ruby's longtime handlers, were mourning privately and set to undergo grief counseling.

"The zoo staff is very saddened by the loss of this animal," Williamson said.

Valley residents took the news of Ruby's death with heavy hearts.

At Phoenix's Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School, students were enjoying a fall school dance when the student council announced Ruby's death.

"The kids all stood really silently. They understood what was being said," said teacher Garthanne De Ocampo. "For about 100 fifth- and sixth-graders to stand quiet after an hour and a half of dancing is kind of amazing."

Orr and Fourner
Suzanne Starr/The Arizona Republic

Phoenix Zoo veterinarian Kathy Orr and consulting surgeon Joe Fourner attend a news conference Friday in which zoo officials explained Ruby's death.

She said that after a moment of silence, "One of the kids said, 'And the last song should be dedicated to Ruby.'"

Zoo visitors, some of whom had kept vigil at the elephant compound early in the morning, also were heartsick.

Zoo volunteer Barbara Walker couldn't believe the news. During her four years at the zoo, she said, Ruby always had been special to her.

"Now she's gone," said Walker, dabbing tears away from the corners of her eyes with a tissue. "It's a sad day."

As the bad news spread across the zoo grounds, others lamented the loss. Children turned to their parents for answers.

"Why did the baby die?"

"How come they couldn't save Ruby?"

Nine-year-old Marissa Earl stared into the elephant pen.

"I feel really sad, Mommy," she confessed. "Do elephants go to heaven?"

Visitor Margaret Benzer got to know Ruby during a 17-week high school internship at the zoo in 1984. Tears streaming down her face, Benzer added a candle to the table in front of the elephant pit already overflowing with flowers and get-well cards.

She recalled with a smile a favorite memory of Ruby.

Benzer had wheelbarrow duty one day, shoveling elephant dung in the hot summer heat. When Benzer finally had finished, Ruby sauntered over, looked her straight in the eye, and tipped the load over.

"She had a real attitude," Benzer said laughing. "She was a snot."

In the week before Ruby's operation, zoo medical personnel apparently had done everything right in preparing her for the risky surgery. Fourner, who had performed four previous elephant C-sections, was optimistic that his latest patient had a good chance to recover.

No Asian elephant previously had survived such an operation. But the others had been in distress, the surgery done on an emergency basis. In all cases, infection had been a major factor.

After doctors discovered last weekend that Ruby's water had broken but that her calf was not moving, they tried unsuccessfully to induce labor. Ruby was immediately put on antibiotics and forced to fast. Both measures were designed to give her the best chance for beating the grim odds.

"She was the best candidate for a C-section," Fourner said. "She would have had a very good chance."

This would be the first of his gargantuan maternity patients, he believed, to make it.

But discovery of the rupture came as a shock.

"It's sad to go through this without a successful outcome," Fourner said, adding that "this is the only way we can learn -- through attempts and sometimes failures."

Unlike human mothers, elephants cannot be examined by X-rays or ultrasound. Their rugged skin and 6-inch layer of fat are too thick to penetrate.

No fetal monitor can service an animal so large.

Such technology might have indicated that Ruby's condition was deteriorating.

Williamson said that Ruby's death was not due to human error, and that everything possible was done to save her.

"No stone was left unturned," he said. "If effort could have saved her, we would have saved her."

Still, Fourner and Orr said they gained valuable knowledge from Ruby's demise. Her pre-operative care was impeccable and sets a model for future treatment of other elephants.

Williamson does not regret the zoo's decision to breed the 25-year-old Ruby, saying that captive breeding is a vital part of efforts to conserve the Asian elephant, an animal disappearing in the wild.

The Phoenix Zoo will continue to pursue Asian elephant conservation in cooperation with the Species Survival Program.

"We're committed to the conservation of the Asian elephant," Williamson said.

Whether there will be a successor to Ruby is still unclear. Indu, an elephant "nanny" brought in on loan to assist Ruby in her first attempt at motherhood, might remain in Phoenix. In consultation with the SSP, another Asian elephant could be obtained.

Those decisions will be made once the heartache over Ruby's death has eased. A memorial service is planned, but the time has not been decided.

The Tulsa Zoo, where Ruby was impregnated two years ago by a male named Sneezy, was notified of her death.

Tulsa zoo keepers had been faxing and phoning Phoenix officials daily about Ruby's condition.

"Elephants are easy to get attached to," Tulsa Zoo director Larry Nunley said. "She was a good elephant. She got along well with her male, obviously.

"Our keepers spent a lot of time with her," he said. "There's been a lot of people walking around with their chins hanging down the last few days."

After necropsies on the elephants have been completed, mother and child will be buried somewhere on zoo land. Williamson said the locations will not be identified.

For decades, Ruby had distinguished herself as an animal who could not only charm zoo visitors with her size and dignity but with with her artistic talents as well. After handler Tawny Carlson noticed her making designs in the dirt floor of the compound, Ruby was given a paint brush and paints.

Sales of lithographs made from her abstract art helped fund the zoo's operation.

Williamson said he did not know whether more lithographs of her work will be made.

Early Friday, zoo staff had been hopeful that the artistic elephant would be saved.

Park Ranger Deniece Linton guarded the entry to the elephant night house, where the surgeons operated on Ruby, and prayed for the best.

"We're hoping that she'll make history," Linton said. "We want her to be the first one to pull through this and be our girl again."

Those hopes were dashed by 3:45, when employees streamed out of the zoo's Stonehouse Pavilion where officials had gathered them to relay the bad news.

Three women wrapped their arms around one another and sobbed for the death of their girl.

Republic writer Susie Steckner contributed to this article.