‘Saddest’ elephant in the world passes away in a zoo in Philippines

An elephant, named one of the saddest in the world by activists, has passed away at a zoo in the Philippines. She spent most of her life alone in a small area.

People have shown their love and respect for Mali, who was the most popular animal at Manila Zoo for forty years.

The only lonely elephant in the country has been worrying animal rights activists for a long time.

One of them was Sir Paul McCartney, who wanted Mali to be moved to a safe place for elephants called a sanctuary.

Mali died on Tuesday and the Mayor of Manila, Honey Lacuna, told everyone in a Facebook video. She said going to the zoo to see Mali was one of her best memories as a kid.

On Friday, the vet at the zoo said the Asian elephant was in pain because she kept rubbing her trunk on the wall.

On Tuesday morning, Mali was laying on her side and taking deep breaths. The vets gave her medicine for allergies and vitamins, but she died in the afternoon. The doctors found that she had cancer in some of her body parts and a blockage in her heart’s main artery.

Mali, also known as Vishwa Ma’ali, was given as a gift to the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, by the Sri Lankan government in 1981 when she was almost a year old. Manila Zoo also had another elephant named Shiva, who came in 1977 and passed away in 1990. Mali was the only elephant at the zoo for a long time. During the worst part of the pandemic, Manila Zoo also helped give vaccinations to children. Mali the elephant was there to make the kids happy.

Animal lovers were angry about the bad conditions at Manila Zoo and said the people taking care of the animals didn’t have the right tools to help Mali when she was sick. The zoo staff said the elephant should stay in the zoo because she doesn’t know how to live in the wild.

“I want to join the many people who are supporting moving Mali, the lonely elephant at Manila Zoo, to a sanctuary in Thailand as soon as we can,” he said.

Morrissey, the singer from the band The Smiths, also wrote a letter to try to help Mali, but she is still at Manila Zoo.

Peta said a very sad elephant from around the world has died. “Rest well, Mali. You should have had better. ”

On X, who used to be called Twitter, Filipinos from different generations remembered how they used to visit Mali during school field trips in Manila. They were sad that Mali died without any company.

One person remembered seeing Mali for the first time 11 years ago. “When you see Mali walking, you can tell that she is very lonely. ” It made me really sad. It was said that Mali has died.

“Feeling sad because Mali, the famous elephant in the Philippines, has died. ” “I hope there won’t be any more elephants kept in zoos,” another person on X said.

During a meeting with the media, the mayor of Manila said she wants to ask the government of Sri Lanka for a new elephant to be given to the Philippine capital.

She said that the people who took care of Mali for a long time were very sad about her death. She also mentioned that they never thought about moving Mali to a sanctuary because she had been kept captive for so long.

“Even though she looked lonely, we were there for her,” Ms Lacuna said in Tagalog, her voice shaking. “She was the person who welcomed everyone at Manila Zoo. ” She is important to us and is a big part of our lives.