Mona, the only remaining elephant at the Birmingham Zoo, was euthanized yesterday.  She had been at the zoo since 1955 and was 60 or so years old. A couple of years ago, the other elephant, Susie, died, so Mona was the last one there. When Susie died, several other places, including a place in Tennessee, offered to take Mona since they are social animals, but because of her age, the officials chose to keep her in Birmingham. Earlier this week, they found her on her side unable to get up. After lifting her with a crane, she did just fine, so they thought that maybe her leg had gone to sleep while she was lying on it. Yesterday, they found her down again, and after lots of discussion, the decision was made to euthanize her. |