Beloved Elephant Watoto dies at Seattle Zoo

Watoto, the 45 year old African elephant and darling to generations of visitors at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, died suddenly Friday, Zoo officials said.

The zookeepers believe that the animal died a natural death due to old age, though a necropsy is scheduled, reports The Register- Guard.

The elephant was lying on her side when keepers arrived at 7 am. They attempted to raise the elephant using cloth straps and also with a crane-like machinery. Upon realizing the futility of the attempt, the medical staff euthanized the elephant.

Watoto, who was one of the three elephants at the zoo, weighed more than 4 tons and stood 9 feet tall. Born in Kenya in 1969 or 1970, Watoto was brought to the Seattle zoo in 1971. She entertained visitors by walking along a railing as they patted her body. This was before the zoo's safety standards changed, reports The Register-Guard.

"She's a beloved animal by many of us - staff members, volunteers, visitors," zoo spokeswoman Caileigh Robertson said. "Many of her keepers have worked with her for more than 30 years," she added.

Watoto had lost one of her tusks in 2010 after it got stuck in a restraint device.

The zoo's chief operations officer, Bruce Bohmke, said that 45 years is about an average life span for elephants in the wild, though African elephants can live up to 70 years, reports The Register -Guard.

However, Alyne Fortgang - an inhabitant of Seattle - was critical of the zoo exhibiting elephants and said that Watoto aged prematurely in captivity.

Fortgang's organization, Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants has fought for years to make the authorities close the exhibit and to send the elephants to a California sanctuary.

Fortgang said that Watoto suffered from arthritis, chronic attacks of colic and skin conditions caused by her environment. She added that in the wild, 45 year old elephants have babies.

But Bohmke says that there's nothing to suggest that the elephants circumstance in captivity played a part in her death. Watoto had a healthy appetite in recent days and showed no signs of ill health, Bohmke said.

She also never had a grave skin condition or colic, he said.

However she had arthritis in one leg, which is not unusual among older mammals, Bohmke added, reports The Register-Guard.