Without their mother to protect them and teach them survival skills, these cubs could not have survived in the wild. The Alaskan brown bears are siblings named Koots, Denali, and Sitka. While they came to the Bronx from different places, all four bears share a common story: their mothers were problem bears and were killed as a result of wandering too close to humans. In 2009, these bears (a grizzly bear and three Alaskan brown bears) were rescued as cubs from Montana and Alaska, respectively. On this week’s THE ZOO, you met four rambunctious rescue bears that now call the Bronx Zoo home. It’s possible that Patty, who was born in India, contracted the disease there before coming to the Bronx Zoo. Elephants exposed at a young age can wall off the TB bacterium in their body for decades before becoming ill or testing positive. Also, the TB organism cannot survive for long in the open environment and sunlight.Īt this time, it is not known how Patty acquired TB. There is no opportunity for direct contact between zoo guests and the elephants. TB is transmitted by close contact over a long time with an infected person or animal so there is no risk to the visiting public as the elephants can only be viewed from a distance while riding on the monorail. Our two other elephants, Happy and Maxine, are tested every three months and have not tested positive for TB.Īfter Patty’s TB was detected, all staff who had close contact with the zoo’s elephants were tested and no one tested positive, including those who have spent the most time with our elephants. All of the subsequent weekly tests we have done with Patty have showed no presence of the TB bacterium. TB is curable and we are hopeful Patty’s treatment will be successful.
![bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ujJ5QrGQASg/maxresdefault.jpg)
Months after her diagnosis she is her normal, robust self. The good news is that Patty, who is about 47 years old, is showing no symptoms of the disease and is accepting treatment well.
![bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/bronx-zoo-birds-has-many-kinds-here-little-heron-nest-95695120.jpg)
This episode highlights the expert care given to Patty and the trust and bond between her and her keepers as she receives treatment. Patty’s story was told on the Animal Planet docu-series, THE ZOO, in an episode entitled “An Elephant’s Trust” which premiered March 31, 2018. TB is a common disease around the world that most frequently affects people in urban areas like New York City and other major cities, and is an infrequent but known disease in elephants. Tuberculosis (TB) was diagnosed in Patty, an Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo, in 2017 through routine health monitoring.
![bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird](https://live.staticflickr.com/7179/7040460291_6d345978f0_b.jpg)
We've successfully bred a large number of SSP species throughout WCS's five zoos and aquariums. In order to accomplish this, sophisticated computer analyses determine which animals make the best pairs, and zoos participating in these programs send individual animals to other zoos on a regular basis to assure an adequate exchange of genes across our populations. The goal of SSPs is to have viable, sustainable populations in our zoos through careful, planned breeding. The Bronx Zoo actively participates in almost half of these programs! There are about 500 SSP programs administered by the AZA, and nearly all are for species that are classified as threatened or endangered. SSPs are programs that manage species for gene diversity and demographic (population) stability, which are requisites to have healthy populations in our zoos.
![bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird bronx zoo s:3 e:5 bird](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-yXyl2EwR4Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
Three of the species featured in this week’s episode (the African wild dog, white-cheeked gibbon and California sea lion) are Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP) species.