Anchorage

Photos:Maggie the African elephant is at home in California

Once one of Anchorage's most exotic residents, Maggie the African elephant was brought to the city in the early 1980s to be a companion to the Asian elephant Annabelle and a main attraction at the Alaska Zoo. But after 24 years, the death of Annabelle and a public outcry for her to be relocated, Maggie was shipped to California.

Today she is one of several elephants living at the Performing Animals Welfare Society, or PAWS, a San Andreas, California sanctuary, where officials say she is flourishing in ways she would have never been able to in Alaska.

"She is busy every day exploring her hillsides, dusting, noshing and just being an elephant," said PAWS program director Kim Gardner. She added that Maggie is expected to be a top contender in the upcoming Ms. TUSKany Pageant, a fundraiser at which Maggie has won the title several times.

Gardner said many Alaskans have made donations to PAWS in Maggie's name.

Although Maggie left Alaska nearly seven years ago in an Air Force cargo jet, Alaskans have not forgotten her. The home she and Annabelle once shared still stands, a vacant concrete building tucked away in a far corner of the zoo. Tourists don't seem to pay it any attention, but parents with children bring them to the dusty lawn of the elephant barn and share their favorite Maggie stories.

"I am sure that the staff that worked with Maggie do miss her," said Alaska Zoo Executive Director Patrick Lampi. "Elephants are amazing animals. I can't speak for everyone, but for myself, it is more about her being in a better environment and with the companionship of other elephants."

Maggie was born in 1982 in South Africa's Kruger National Park. She became orphaned when her mother was shot in a government-ordered cull killing, a form of population control used to keep adult elephants from encroaching on human areas. Maggie was one of 20 orphans in need of a home, and she found one on the far side of the world. On Sept. 28, 1983, Maggie arrived in Anchorage, where she joined Annabelle at the South Anchorage zoo. The two were companions until Annabelle's death in 1997.

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"At the time (Maggie came to Alaska), it was an act of giving a home to an orphaned animal and providing companionship to our Asian elephant," said Lampi. "It was an opportunity for some to see an elephant in person and an educational opportunity. After (Annabelle) died, it became apparent that Maggie needed to be relocated."

The zoo did not have the capacity to provide an adequate facility for Maggie in the northern climate, Lampi said. So on Nov. 1, 2007, Maggie left Alaska.

Lampi said he's been able to visit her several times since her departure. Their last visit was less than a year ago.

"Seeing her healthy, with more acreage than we could have ever offered her, and the interaction with the other elephants was very gratifying and I have no doubt that moving her was the right decision," said Lampi.

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