Mourning at Zurich Zoo Elephant Ceyla-Himali is dead
Great sadness at Zurich Zoo: the elephant cow Ceyla-Himali has died. She had to be euthanized.
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- The elephant cow Ceyla-Himali had to be euthanized at Zurich Zoo.
- She was 49 years old.
- She had recently been suffering from health problems.
The 49-year-old elephant cow Ceyla-Himali from Zurich Zoo had been suffering from health problems for some time due to her age and was closely monitored by veterinarians. On the morning of August 10, 2024, Ceyla-Himali was no longer able to get up on her own. Following a reassessment, Zurich Zoo decided to euthanize the elderly elephant from an animal welfare perspective.
Ceyla-Himali came from an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka, according to Zurich Zoo. She was almost a year old when she was brought to Switzerland by plane in March 1976 and then to the Zürichberg. During these 48 years, the elephant cow sired six young and helped raise many more. Three of Ceyla-Himali's offspring are still alive today, including the two Asian elephants Panang and Farha, who also live in Zurich.
Ceyla-Himali recently celebrated her 49th birthday on July 1, which is a proud age for Asian elephants. In recent years, Ceyla-Himali had been increasingly struggling with age-related problems. Her kidneys in particular were no longer working optimally, which is why she was closely monitored by our vets and her state of health was repeatedly assessed.
Sisters provide for offspring
On Saturday morning, the ailing female elephant was no longer able to stand up on her own. Following a further assessment, Zurich Zoo decided to euthanize the elderly female elephant in the interests of animal welfare.
Following the death of Ceyla-Himali, the two sisters Panang (35 years old) and Farha (19 years old) will now continue to live together in the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park and hopefully provide for offspring with the bull elephant Thai (19 years old).
Asian elephants are endangered in their natural habitat and the population of wild elephants is steadily declining due to habitat loss and poaching. This makes it all the more important and necessary to breed the pachyderms in zoos in order to build up a stable and healthy reserve population. Ceyla-Himali's offspring offer hope for the future conservation of endangered Asian elephants.