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'Most beloved elephant in Japan' dies, aged 69
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The world's oldest elephant that once sparked a petition drive to improve its living conditions died Thursday at 69 in a small Japanese zoo.
The elephant Hanako, which means "Flower Child," was found lying on her side Thursday afternoon at the Inokashira Park Zoo on the outskirts of Tokyo, a zoo spokesman told reporters.
Efforts to raise her were not successful, and the zoo confirmed her death, he said.
As a gift from the Thai government, Hanako was transported to Tokyo in 1949 when she was two.
She was once described as the world's loneliest elephant by animal rights organizations because she was born in the wild, but spent most of her life caged and alone in a concrete enclosure with little greenery.
Her plight sparked a campaign after photos of her poor living conditions circulated among animal lovers.
Last year, nearly half a million people signed an online petition urging the zoo to free Hanako from her "concrete prison" and send her back to Thailand.
However, the zoo said a transfer would be impossible because she was too old to endure a long journey.
The Thai Embassy said in a statement that the death of Hanako, a goodwill Thai ambassador to Japan, had "saddened the people of Thailand and the people of Japan very much."
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