I saw this and thought it might interest some of you... March 24th 1964 As well as the above, another article mentions a Badger, 3 African Elephants, 5 Racoons, 4 Grisons (American Weasels) and 1 Marten had died. Rubble the Polar Bear was ok Sally the Indian Elephant was suffering from Anthrax, but improving The infected area was closed off, but the Zoo remained open to the public. March 28th 1964 Sally the Indian Elephant died. age approx 6 years. 15 animals had died in total - 4 Elephants + 11 small animals. The Zoo only had 2 Elephants left, Barbar, who had been there 30 years and, Judy, who came with Sally from Bangkok in 1961.
The anthrax outbreak killed a pregnant female African Elephant (Sheila?), thus delaying a first successful birth in the UK by a dozen years. Wasn't the outbreak traced to a consignment of infected skins from the Middle East?
I saw the three African elephants on my first visit to the Zoo (probably 1959). They were quite small and lived in a little enclosure behind the Camel house (now the Okapi house). There is a kiosk and picnic tables there now. They were moved to the Pachyderm House, where the Elephant House is now, which was one of the first buildings erected over Flag Lane. The Indian Elephants moved in at the same time from their old house, which was behind Oakfield House, where the toilets are now. I also remember the grison; at one time they lived in one of the end enclosures in the Small Mammal House. I remember looking in the Liverpool Echo and watching the North West TV news each evening while the outbreak was on to see if any more animals had been infected. I think IRR is right, the source of the anthrax spores was thought to be a consignment of skins or hides. Alan
So, there are two Zoochtters who remember the grison then. http://www.zoochat.com/42/greater-grison-chester-zoo-24-june-35690/ For those of you who have the Chester Zoo News CD, or oldies like me who have the paper magazine, the anthrax outbreak was featured in the April 1964 issue. Two of the African elephants were they only bulls in the U.K. at the time.
Sheila had arrived from Dudley of course. Following the deaths of the Elephants the African bull Jumbolino, aka Bubbles (appropriately for this thread), arrived and eventually made history by fathering the short-lived hybrid born in 1978.
I've seen the photographs of the entire incident, including the emergency modifications made to the pachyderm house in order to remove the carcasses, their disposal and the sterilisation methods that followed. They're not for the faint of heart and after all these years, still rather upsetting.
That's the first I've heard of Sheila being pregnant. There had in fact been an Asian Elephant stillborn @ London Zoo in the 19th century, to a female belonging to 'Lord' Feorge Sanger's circus, who had been sent there to have her calf.
