- Title: UKRAINE: Poison might have killed elephant at Kiev Zoo
- Date: 27th April 2010
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (FILE - JULY 9, 1996) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOY ELEPHANT WALKING IN HIS OPEN ENCLOSURE BOY SPLASHING WATER OVER VISITOR
- Embargoed: 12th May 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVA5BOFJUZQ5HL01CL3OK4OAUACQ
- Story Text: The only elephant in Kiev Zoo, 39-year-old Boy, died on Monday (April 26) in his enclosure, apparently after being poisoned, the zoo's director said.
"It was a tragic and sudden death. Lately, the animal was in a stable condition, eating and acting normally, nothing indicated any trouble. Today, at 10:45, the elephant suddenly let out a terrible cry and collapsed in convulsions," zoo director Svitlana Berzina told Reuters.
Boy, a 6 1/2 tonne Asian elephant, arrived at Kiev Zoo in the mid-1970s.
Berzina said there had been an earlier attempt to poison Boy in the 1990s, but on that occasion, the zoo had managed to save him. The circumstances of this previous attempt to poison Boy were not clear.
This time, Berzina named the preliminary reason for the elephant instantaneous death.
"I have the conclusions of veterinarians," Berzina said. "It was an acute heart and lung deficiency induced by a toxic shock that is poisoning."
A Kiev city administration official, Maria Azoryan, said that the reasons for his death would be the subject of an investigation by veterinarians and law-enforcement bodies.
The zoo had called for help to prosecutors and independent experts to investigate, Berzina said.
Boy's corpse remained covered by a tarpaulin inside his open enclosure on Monday. Zoo authorities said there would be an autopsy on Monday night. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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