Mali’s death was announced on Tuesday in a Facebook video posted by Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna, whose happy childhood memories include frequent visits to see the elephant at the zoo.
The beloved Asian elephant first started showing signs of distress last Friday when she was rubbing her trunk against a wall, a sign she was in pain, according to chief veterinarian Dr. Heinrich Patrick Peña-Domingo.
The Smithsonian National Zoo said that evidence points to Asian elephants living until their mid-50s with the median lifespan clocking in at 47 years old.
She moved from Sri Lanka to the Manila Zoo after the Sri Lankan government gifted her to the then-first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos.
Mali briefly shared her space with another elephant named Shiba, who died in 1990, but lived alone ever since Shiba passed.
“Despite PETA’s repeated warnings, Manila Zoo & city officials ignored Mali’s clearly painful foot problems, the leading cause of death in captive elephants. Every person who denied her veterinary care & blocked her transfer to a sanctuary should be held accountable,” the statement continued.
Paul McCartney had advocated for Mali to be given better attention.
“I was shocked to learn that Mali has never even received proper preventive foot care,” he said in a 2013 letter to then-President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III, Rappler reported.
Mali lived alone for decades. AFP via Getty Images
An autopsy revealed that Mali died of heart failure and also had cancer.