The 'World's Loneliest Elephant' Dies After Spending Decades Alone

THINK

Nov 30

Mali the elephant lived alone in a concrete pen at the Manila Zoo in the Philippines for nearly 50 years, despite international calls for her freedom.

An elephant known as “the world’s saddest” because of her isolated living conditions in a zoo in the Philippines has died at 43-years-old, officials announced on Wednesday.

Mali, whose full name was Vishwa Ma'ali, reportedly died from health complications at Manila Zoo. BBC News reported that she started displaying symptoms of pain last Friday, according to the zoo's chief veterinarian Dr Heinrich Patrick Peña-Domingo.

By Tuesday she was lying on her side and breathing heavily. Veterinarians administered antihistamines and vitamins, but she died that afternoon. An autopsy has revealed Mali had cancer in multiple organs and a blockage in her aorta.

In 1981, when Mali was 11 months old, she was sent to the Philippines as a gift to the country’s former first lady Imelda Marcos by the Sri Lankan government. At the time, another elephant, Shiva, also lived at Manila Zoo, but since Shiva’s death in 1990, she has remained the only elephant at the zoo.

"Because of indifference and greed, Mali the elephant died the same way she had lived for nearly 50 years: alone in a concrete pen at the Manila Zoo,” People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA) Asia wrote in a statement. “People everywhere can do their part to protect other elephants by staying away from any business that puts animals on display for entertainment.”

PETA launched a campaign in 2005, denouncing Mali’s living conditions and calling for her relocation to an ethical sanctuary where she could “enjoy the company of other elephants”. The advocacy group also slammed the zoo and the Philippines government for neglecting Mali’s “clearly painful foot problems” and for keeping her in decades of “solitary confinement”.

The campaign gained support from more than 100,000 people as well as multiple high-profile voices, including Nobel laureate JM Coetzee, former Smiths frontman Morrissey, renowned conservationist Jane Goodall, and Sir Paul McCartney, with the latter calling Mali’s plight “heartbreaking”.

"I am writing to add my voice to the many others who are supporting the transfer of Mali, the lonely elephant currently being held at the Manila Zoo, to a sanctuary in Thailand as soon as possible," he said in 2012.

During a press conference on Wednesday, the Manila mayor, Honey Lacuna, said that she intends to ask the Sri Lankan government to donate another elephant to the Philippine capital. “Mali was our prized possession and was the star attraction here at the Manila Zoo,” Ms Lacuna told reporters. “It saddens me because she was part of our lives,” she said.

On X, Filipinos mourned the solitary passing of Mali and reflected on their visits to the elephant during school, with one user writing: “Sad about Mali, the famous elephant here in the Philippines passing away. Hoping no more elephants will be confined to zoos.”

Another recalled her first sight of Mali 11 years ago. "Seeing Mali walking around, you will feel how lonely this elephant is. It broke my heart... and now it was announced that Mali has died."

Learn more about why captivity is so harmful to animals with the Species Unite podcast, S8. E16: Captivity Sucks. In this episode, Elizabeth chats with Devan Schowe, the Campaigns Associate for Born Free USA, a nonprofit wildlife organization. Listen here.

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