In the hours after Perth Zoo’s beloved Tricia the elephant died on Wednesday night, one of the younger elephants in the enclosure, Permai, did not leave her side as she grieved her friend.
The Asian elephants, like their African cousins, mourn their dead deeply, and will be a key consideration, along with the wishes of the public and zookeepers, in deciding how to remember to the 65-year-old matriarch.
Tricia, left, celebrates her 56th birthday with Permai in 2013.Credit:AAP
Environment minister Reece Whitby said the state intended to give Tricia an appropriate and dignified send off, and that discussions about what to do with her 3.6-tonne body had begun.
“Tricia was an elephant, so she was a large animal,” he told Radio 6PR.
“At this stage there is some communication between the Zoo and Museum of WA, so there is a move for her remains to be put in the care of the museum and then a possible future at the museum.”
For now, Tricia’s body remains at Perth Zoo, where she has lived since 1963, with bull Putra Mas and females Permai and the late Teduh joining her in 1992.
Perth Zoo executive director Wendy Attenborough said Permai had been Tricia’s constant companion for decades and would feel the loss of the matriarch very keenly.
“It’s early days and we don’t know how that will manifest, but certainly at the moment she is standing by and mourning her,” she said.
“The Perth Zoo family is devastated, we knew this was coming, we were prepared for it, but it’s still heartbreaking to live through it.
“Our elephant team are grieving alongside the elephants, they’re really hurting.”
Recent studies have documented Asian elephants showing distress at the deaths of other members of its species.
Behaviours around dead or dying elephants have included other individuals trying to help them, sniffing, and high-frequency trumpeting.
Perth Zoo senior elephant keeper Steve Edmunds said Tricia herself heavily mourned the death of young elephant Teduh in 2007.
“Permai was very distressed for a couple of weeks but then gradually bounced back to her normal self,” he said.
“Tricia really went into a depression for about a year … she was [usually] always such a vocal, playful elephant. After Teduh passed, Tricia was silent for a year.
“I can only hope that Tricia is up there in elephant heaven in a beautiful forest with her little buddy.”
The zoo will delay doing anything with Tricia’s body while Permai holds her own farewell.
Whitby said she and the other remaining elephant, Putra Mas, will then permanently leave the zoo.
“We live in a different age, zoo animals are treated differently. When Tricia came her in 1963 and went into that concrete enclosure it’s not something we would do today, so we’re looking for a more appropriate home for our remaining elephants, but we’re not going to rush it,” he said.
“We’re looking around Australia and indeed around the world for a very appropriate open range facility for those elephants, the prime concern will be their safety and welfare.”
Elephants need to live in herd structures surrounded by others and Perth Zoo has been considered too small to house them.
A memorial walk will be held at Perth Zoo on Sunday, and Whitby flagged the likelihood a memorial would also be created to remember Tricia’s life and her impact on generations of West Australians.
Attenborough said the zoo was working with the WA Museum Boola Bardip to make sure that Tricia could continue to be an extraordinary ambassador for her species, just as she was in life.
“They’ll be keeping her in a safe place for a little while,” she said.
“Then we’ll have some really respectful conversations when the time is right about how to appropriately recognise her legacy and again make sure she can continue to be that ambassador for her species.”
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