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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Prickly pachyderm prepares for transfer

Associated Press

SEATTLE – Elephant experts are getting ready to send an ill-tempered, 38-year-old pachyderm south to Tacoma, where she’ll join two other females not known for their social graces.

The move is expected to ease tensions at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, where Bamboo’s intolerance for younger elephants and their calves has forced handlers to separate the herd at times.

At Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo, Bamboo will live with two fellow Asian elephants, 39-year-old Suki and 41-year-old Hanako.

She’ll be shipped south in a special air-conditioned tractor-trailer, probably arriving in her new home by Labor Day.

The Tacoma zoo is a national leader in handling elephants considered too dangerous to be kept and trained using traditional methods. Dominant Suki moved in after throwing a handler against the wall and trying to stomp him, and Hanako was sent from the Washington Park Zoo in Portland because she was unpredictable and moody.