Endearing blind seal dies at Portland zoo

PORTLAND – Mira, the blind elephant seal that became an underdog favorite at the Oregon Zoo, has died unexpectedly.

Stranded on a Northern California beach, the seal was unable to cope in the wild after her retinas deteriorated, leaving her blind. When she arrived at the Oregon Zoo in 2002, keepers worked around her disability – putting food in her mouth, instead of tossing it, for example, and attaching noise-making beads to her training pole.

She seemed listless on Sunday, but zoo workers say they saw nothing that would have predicted she would be dead by Monday.