Beloved Riverbanks Zoo elephant has died

A beloved elephant at Riverbanks Zoo died on Saturday, administrators announced Saturday afternoon.

The death of Petunia made it a very tough day for everyone at the zoo, said Ed Diebold Riverbank’s director of Animal Collection and Conservation.

Her illness came on suddenly, he said.

“She was doing really well up until yesterday,” he said.

At 44 years old, Petunia was considered on the older end of the range for female African elephants in managed populations, the park said.

She had ailments typical of an older elephant, such as arthritis in her joints and some colic, Diebold said.

The decision to euthanize Petunia was made after staff found her unable to stand Saturday morning.

“Euthanasia was necessary because of her sudden decline in health,” said Martha Weber, senior veterinarian at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in a news release.

Petunia joined the population of elephants at Riverbanks in 2007 after having lived about 10 years at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the drive-through Safari, and before that at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio and the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee.

Saturday’s death reduces the zoo’s elephant population to three, all older elephants: Robin, who joined Riverbanks with Petunia, is 47 years old; Penny, who is 37 years old; and Belle, who is 35 years old.

Because elephants create tight social structures, the surviving members of her herd were allowed to visit her body, to mourn her passing in their own way, Diebold said.

“It was the right thing to do,” he said.

A team of veterinary pathologists from the University of Georgia and the zoo’s veterinarians will conduct a necropsy on Sunday to determine the cause of death, Diebold said.

Petunia had lived longer than half of female African elephants in managed populations, the zoo said. The median age of elephants similar to Petunia is 38.4 years.

The exact cause of death will have to await the necropsy findings, which could take up to eight weeks, the zoo said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Beloved Riverbanks Zoo elephant has died."