 Rose-Tu at the Oregon Zoo in 2007 | |
| Species | Asian elephant |
|---|---|
| Born | August 31, 1994 |
| Residence | Oregon Zoo (Portland, Oregon) |
Rose-Tu is an Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
| Rose-Tu at the Oregon Zoo in 2007 | |
| Species | Asian elephant |
|---|---|
| Born | August 31, 1994 |
| Residence | Oregon Zoo (Portland, Oregon) |
Rose-Tu is an Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon, United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Rose-Tu was born on August 31, 1994 [6] [7] [8] to mother Me-Tu, the half-sister of Packy. [9] Rose-Tu was one of twins, but her unnamed sibling died within an hour of its birth. [10] Rose-Tu was approximately 3 feet (0.91 m) tall [11] and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg) at birth, forty pounds lower than average. [10] Her name was taken partially from her mother, partially in homage to Portland's nickname "City of Roses", and partially after her grandmother, whose name was Rosy. Other shortlisted names included Asha, Jordan, Koofed, and Song. [11]
Rose-Tu was raised with the other female elephants at Oregon Zoo, particularly her mother, Sung Surin, and Belle, the mother of Packy, In 1996, Me-Tu was euthanized due to foot rot. [9] [12] Belle was euthanized for similar reasons the following year. Rose-Tu was allowed to visit her body shortly after the procedure. [12]
On April 17, 2000, when Rose-Tu was six years old, Rose-Tu's keeper ordered her to move to a different part of the enclosure. When she did not, the keeper struck Rose-Tu repeatedly with a bullhook, [13] which was also possibly inserted into Rose-Tu's anus. [14] [13] [15] [16] An examination by another keeper after the incident identified 176 lacerations and puncture wounds on Rose-Tu, [15] [13] but an exam by a veterinarian was not performed until April 19. [15] The keeper was fired by the zoo, [13] which he appealed. In a discipline hearing, he confirmed that he had used his own bullhook, not one provided by the zoo. [15]
Initially, district attorney had declined to charge the keeper because Rose-Tu, being an elephant, could not testify as to whether she felt pain during the incident. [15] [13] In response, the Animal Legal Defense Fund wrote a bill, sponsored by senator Ryan Deckert, which would have lowered the standard of evidence needed to prove animal abuse in cases concerning domestic animals, but not with those related to "livestock, animal husbandry, or veterinary practices". [17] However, the prosecutors decided to use expert witnesses to testify that Rose-Tu had experienced pain, and the keeper pled no-contest to charges of second-degree animal abuse. [16] [13]
As a result of the incident, the Oregon Zoo was fined by the U.S Department of Agriculture. [18]
Rose-Tu gave birth to a male calf named Samudra in 2008. [19] His father was Tusko, a male elephant who had been loaned to Oregon Zoo in 2005. In the lead-up to Samudra's birth, zookeepers expressed concerns that none of the three cows at the zoo had previous experience as a mother. [10]
In 2012, she gave birth to a female calf Lily, [20] [21] who died in 2018. [22] [23] Photographs of Rose-Tu and Lily were featured prominently in Elephant House, a 2015 photo book about the lives of elephants at the Oregon Zoo. [24]
Media related to Rose-Tu at Wikimedia Commons
