KUWAIT, Aug. 9 -- Kuwait zoo authorities said Wednesday an elephant that survived a bullet wound and abuse inflicted by Iraqi occupiers in 1990 has killed herself by smashing her head against the metal bars of a cage. The 3 -ton pachyderm, named Dalal, 'died early Monday morning in her cage,' said an al-Omariya zoo official who asked not to be named.
The official declined to further detail the elephant's death, pending an official zoo statement expected Saturday. The Arabic-language daily newspaper al-Qabbas said Wednesday that Dalal repeatedly crashed her head against the bars of a temporary cage, where she had been placed while her regular enclosure was being renovated. The newspaper did not report the elephant's age, whether she had been attended during the incident or how long she had been in the cage. Dalal received a flurry of international media attention after Kuwait's 1991 liberation from a seven-month Iraqi occupation. She was one of the few zoo animals to survive, despite being shot and suffering what Kuwait officials described as torture by Iraqis. Officials were forced by the animal's stench to close the zoo Tuesday because her carcass had begun to decay. The newspaper said zookeepers first tried to drag Dalal's body away with a truck but failed because of her size. Then they called in a nine-member commercial cleaning company to dismember and remove the carcass. It took them 12 hours to fill and haul away 40 extra-large bags of Dalal's remains.
