Elephant Mali, the only remaining pachyderm in the Philippines, dies

2023-11-29 14:12:08

Updated Wednesday, November 29, 2023 – 13:12

He was almost 50 years old and has spent more than four decades at the Manila Zoo

The elephant Mali.EFE

Elephant Mali, almost 50 years old and the only pachyderm left in the Philippines, died from various ailments after spending more than four decades at the zoo in Manilawhich was given by Sri Lanka as a gift to the former first lady Imelda Marcos.

The mayor of Manila herself, Honey Lacuna, announced in a press conference that Mali, also known as Vishwamalidied Tuesday afternoon and added that the pachyderm had been a source of joy for children and adults for decades.

At the hearing, the chief veterinarian of the Manila Zoo, Heinrich Patrick Peña-Domingo, indicated that Mali had canceras well as problems in various organs such as the liver and kidneys, and it is believed that he died of cardiac arrest.

For years, activists like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) They denounced the loneliness and precariousness with which the elephant lived and asked that she be transferred to an elephant reserve in Thailand.

“The world mourns Mali, the elephant who she spent decades alone at the Manila Zoo“, PETA wrote today on its X account (formerly Twitter), where it asked Sri Lanka not to send another elephant to Manila, in case the authorities request it.

The elephant was delivered in 1977three years after birth, to the Manila zoo by the Sri Lankan authorities as a gesture towards the then first lady, Imelda Marcos, wife of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

At the beginning there was another elephant in the zoo, Shibabut he died a few years later, leaving Mali alone for the next few decades.

More than ten years ago, PETA started a campaign for Mali to be moved to an elephant reserve in Thailanda petition joined by personalities such as Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Morrisey, JM Coetzee and Dr. Jane Goodall.

According to PETA, Mali lived in a small space with a concrete floor, when elephants are used to living in areas of between 25,000 and 60,000 hectares.

However, Philippine authorities always maintained that the elephant was being lovingly cared for at the zoo and that could not adapt to living with other pachyderms.