An elderly elephant at the Oakland Zoo was humanely euthanized Sunday due to worsening, degenerative and irreversible health issues, zoo officials said Monday.
Lisa, a 46-year-old African elephant, had dealt with chronic age-related health issues for several years, according to the zoo, including eye ulcers, degenerative arthritis, foot and nail lesions and a recently developed ventral edema, which caused excessive fluid buildup in her stomach.
Zoo staff developed a medical care plan for Lisa in an effort to ease the pain of her conditions, including physical therapy, pain medication, daily foot soaks in Epsom salt and two stem cell procedures in October 2022 and in January, in partnership with