Baby Elephant Dies in Marine Park

V A L L E J O, Calif., Nov. 30 -- — A baby elephant on loan from a Missourizoo died Wednesday, months after an elephant expert says she warnedthe zoo the animal was too young to be separated from its mother.

Kala, a 2-year-old Asian elephant at Six Flags Marine World, wason loan from the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo. He died ofa viral infection.

Jane Garrison from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animalssaid Kala’s stress from being separated from his mother compromisedhis immune system and led to his infection and death. Kala came tothe Vallejo park in May. He was the youngest of the facility’seight elephants.

Garrison said male elephants generally remain with their mothersuntil they are 14 years old.

Zoo: Accusations Absurd

Jeff Jouett, a spokesman for Six Flags Marine World, calls theclaims absurd.

“This baby elephant died from a virus,” Jouett said Wednesdaynight. “Kala was not stressed. He spent time with his aunties justas any animal would in the wild.”

Jouett said Kala was well adjusted and that other baby elephantshave died of the same infection while nursing from their mothers.

Kala died from endothelial inclusion body disease, a herpesvirus specific to elephants.

The virus has claimed at least nine elephant deaths in NorthAmerica in the past 15 years, including one at the Missouri Zoo andone at the Oakland Zoo.