Everyone remembers the Scranton Zoo’s most famous occupant. That would be Toni the Elephant. For almost 17 years Toni delighted crowds at the Scranton Zoo as they passed by waving to her. According to records received by the National Zoo, Toni arrived in the
After six years at a children’s zoo, Toni was shipped to us in
Unfortunately, Toni sustained an injury to her left front leg in 1975, while with at the original
In October 1989, Toni was moved from the Nay Aug Park Zoo to the National Zoo because of the successful elephant socialization program here. Toni had not seen another elephant or walked on soil since her youth.
Keepers at the National Zoo began training Toni immediately, and started slowly introducing her to the other Zoo elephants. Through painstaking effort by Zoo keepers,
Toni was able to fully interact with other elephants by May 1990. Toni has spent nearly 17 years at the National Zoo, socializing with other elephants and swimming in the outdoor pools.
In 2001, Zoo veterinarians successfully treated Toni for acute kidney disease—a major accomplishment. National Zoo veterinarians published a paper that outlined the course of treatment in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine.
In the summer of 2005, Zoo keepers noticed a major change: Toni was favoring her left leg instead of her right leg. Since she injured her left leg in 1975, she had always placed more weight on her right leg. This observation that she shifted weight to her injured left leg was an indication that Toni’s arthritis had worsened.
In the following months, Zoo veterinarians treated Toni with ibuprofen for its anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties and glucosamine for supplementing her joints. Initially, she responded well to treatment, but her condition declined again in January 2006 when unfortunately, she was euthanized after a long hard fight with arthritis. She was 40yrs old.