Acute cardiac failure cited in death of Shankar, Delhi Zoo’s lone African elephant

Kept chained during musth, Shankar spent years alone after companion Bombai’s death. Zoo was seeking a mate for him before his sudden collapse.

Shankar, the 29-year-old African elephant at the Delhi Zoo, died of “acute cardiac failure”, as per preliminary post-mortem findings. Zoo officials said that the final post-mortem report is awaited.

The Zimbabwe-gifted elephant collapsed in its shed. Union Environment Ministry and zoo director have launched probes into possible causes of death. (HT Archive)

The zoo’s lone African elephant had died late on Wednesday evening after collapsing in its shed.

“The preliminary opinion after the post-mortem is……death due to acute cardiac failure. The cause of acute heart failure is to be ascertained from lab reports, which is awaited from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly,” the zoo’s official statement read.

Further, an investigation at the director level and by the Union Environment Ministry is underway to delineate the possible cause of the death, zoo officials said.

Shankar was presented as a diplomatic gift by Zimbabwe in 1998 and was named after India’s ninth president, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma. He arrived with a companion, Bombai, who died in 2005. The animal spent large parts of the last decade in solitary confinement, with its interaction with the zoo’s Indian elephants Heera and Laxmi stopping completely after 2021.

The animal was kept chained and tethered for large parts of 2023 and 2024, due to being in ‘musth’ – a state where a surge of reproductive hormones trigger aggression in male elephants. Subsequently, last year, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) had revoked Delhi zoo’s membership following allegations of negligence and mistreatment of the elephant. The zoo had recently been trying to find a female companion for the animal.