Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2000
LOS ANGELES -
Twinkletoes, a rare black rhinoceros that had been at the Los Angeles
Zoo more than 30 years and was euthanized Monday after her organs
began failing, had cancer, zoo officials said Tuesday.
The 2,000- to 2,500-pound animal had a hematoma in her stomach
and was bleeding through a cancerous mass, said Michael Dee, the
zoo's general curator.
Twinkletoes was put down Monday after she developed severe health
problems over the weekend, he said. She was treated during the weekend
and was given fluids intravenously, but her condition took a turn
for the worse Monday.
"She probably would have died later in the day," Dee
said. "It was difficult to watch her without being able to
do anything."
The Los Angeles Zoo has three remaining black rhinos in its collection,
Dee said. The zoo also has another three on loan to other zoos,
he said. Dee said the species is considered highly endangered, with
only about 2,500 black rhinos remaining in the wild in Africa and
about 150 in zoos.
Twinkletoes' exact age is unknown, but Dee said she was about 37
years old. She was born in the wild in Kenya in the 1960s and brought
to the Los Angeles Zoo in October 1966.
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