By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Officials at the St. Louis Zoo say it's even more important to monitor Sri the elephant, now that the calf she's pregnant with has died. Tests this weekend found the fetus wasn't alive.
Sri was to give birth this month.
"At this point in time, looking at her and the bloodwork we have, everything seems to be fine," says Martha Fischer, the Zoo's Curator of Mammals. "She seems to be coping well."
"We'll be taking blood samples from her several times a week; we'll be ultrasounding her and taking a look at the fetus several times a week. All in hopes that we can monitor her closely and if a problem were to arise, we could address it very quickly."
A polar bear at the zoo died recently because of complications from carrying two dead fetuses. But officials in that case didn't know the bear was pregnant until after it died.
Two other elephants at the zoo are also pregnant. Ellie and Rani are due in 2006 and 2007. Raja, the only elephant ever born at the St. Louis Zoo, impregnated all three animals.