enthalpy

Tuesday, April 19, 2005


It's a tragic tale, too oft repeated. Young mother, unprepared for her new responsibilities abandons her children. The baby is soon found in dire circumstances, this time, with a broken leg before she eventually died. But then, as usual, what happens next? This irresponsible mother is pregnant again. It's a vicious cycle of abuse and neglect, and it's even worse when it's an elephant.
Shanti, the Houston Zoo's reluctant mother, is pregnant again.

The Asian elephant who gave birth to baby Bella last August is expected to have her second calf in late 2006.

The pregnancy may have occurred outside the breeding protocol to which members of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, or AZA, must adhere. The zoo first should have sought a recommendation for this second birth, according to the chairman of the advisory committee overseeing the group's elephant species survival plan.
Maybe she'll pull herself together before her next one in 2006.



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