Oregon ZooTop story
Oregon Zoo's elephant calf Tula-Tu is holding steady and showing encouraging signs
Tula-Tu's infection follows a loss the zoo knows well
- Nov. 2018Her sister Lily dies of EEHV, one day before her birthday.
- 2026Tula-Tu becomes the first West Coast elephant to get an mRNA vaccine against EEHV-1A.
- Oct. 2026Tula-Tu is diagnosed with EEHV-1B.
- Nov. 4The zoo says she is holding steady and showing encouraging signs.
Sources: OregonLive.com, KATU, KTVZ
If you've been wondering how Tula-Tu is doing, the news is good. The Oregon Zoo's elephant calf is holding steady after a week and a half of emergency care, and Dr. Carlos Sanchez, the zoo's director of animal health, said her viral load is trending down.
She's also been out and about. Tula-Tu spent time with dad Samson and aunties Sung-Surin and Chendra, and she's been playing with a large blue ball that used to be her mom Rose-Tu's.
- Status: guarded, with white-cell counts nearly back to normal
- Strain: EEHV-1B, not the 1A her vaccine targets
- Treatment: antivirals, fluids and plasma transfusions
- Blood tests: Oregon State, Baylor and the Smithsonian's lab
“We do not know whether the EEHV-1A vaccine is protective for the -1B variant.”
Dr. Carlos Sanchez, Oregon Zoo director of animal health
Her shot targeted EEHV-1A, and Sanchez said the blood samples will help researchers understand how the vaccine responds.
EEHV is a serious threat to young elephants
- 1 to 8
- age range when calves are most susceptible
- Around 200
- confirmed EEHV deaths in Asian elephant range countries
Sources: KTVZ, OregonLive.com
