The zoo says Little Mac, a forty-eight-year-old Asian elephant, died Wednesday at her exhibit yard surrounded by keepers and other zoo workers who cared for her over the years.
After two weeks of sharply declining health, the zoo decided to enter Little Mac into hospice care several days before her death.
Litte Mac’s name Sujatha was euthanized nearly a year ago, also due to health issues related to old age.
A zoo spokeswoman said Little Mac was the last elephant the zoo will ever have.
That’s because recent regulations require far more room than the zoo, so the zoo’s elephant program and exhibit will be permanently closed.
Little Mac’s name, by the way, is a play on words on McDonald’s Big Mac.
The owner of several McDonald’s locations in Santa Barbara paid for Little Mac and Sujatha to fly in from India and got the naming rights for one of them.
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