Maggie's Story
In 1983, after her family was killed when elephant herds were culled in southern Africa, one-year-old Maggie was bought by the Alaska Zoo. She shared her quarters with Annabelle, the zoo's lone Asian elephant. In 1997, Annabelle died from a foot infection, and since that time, Maggie lived alone. During the summer, Maggie's world was a small, outdoor pen of hard, compacted dirt and a shallow pond. During Alaska's long winter, Maggie stood on an unheated concrete floor inside a 148-square metre barn. She was overweight, sluggish, and had problems with dry skin. Several years later after Annabelle's death, the zoo constructed a massive treadmill for Maggie to walk on. She never used it.
In May 2007, Maggie was found lying on her left side and couldn't get up. This is a dangerous position for an elephant. All that weight pushing down cuts off blood flow, impairs breathing, and damages organs and muscles. It took zookeepers, firefighters, and a towing company 19 hours to get Maggie on her feet again.
The zoo put Maggie on an hourly watch, but two days later she went down again for six hours. The zoo closed her exhibit and kept a keeper with her around the clock.
Meanwhile, a group of Anchorage citizens called Friends of Maggie stepped up their campagin to convince the zoo to move Maggie to a place with a warm climate, lots of space, and other elephants for companionship. The group met with zoo officials, organized Save Maggie rallies, and wrote to government officials. In November 2007, they were successful and Maggie was finally sent to a sanctuary in California. She is now doing very well.
Below is a table which compares Maggie's life to Lucy's life.