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Watch Construction Equipment Help This Geriatric Zoo Elephant Stand Up After a Fall

Zoo staff at the Milwaukee County Zoo employed the use of a front-end loader to assist a “geriatric” elephant stand back up after she took a tumble on Tuesday, September 2.

The Milwaukee County Zoo provided this footage and posted a photo of the African savanna elephant, named Ruth, with an update regarding the incident.

According to the Wisconsin zoo, around 11 am on Tuesday, Ruth “lost her footing on a log in the outdoor habitat due to aggressive behavior from a herd-mate, and she fell on her side. Ruth remained down but continued actively trying to get back up on her own, although her age and position made that difficult.”

The zoo wrote that all three members of the zoo’s elephant herd are in their 40s, which is considered geriatric.

In a statement to Storyful, the zoo said when Ruth was unable to rise, the zoo began “implementing its planned protocol to lift a down animal, which includes alerting the Milwaukee Fire Department’s Heavy Urban Rescue Team (HURT) as well as Dawes Rigging and Crane.”

“A front-load vehicle, operated by one of the zoo’s vehicle machine operators and carefully guided by our elephant care coordinator, provided leverage for Ruth to ultimately be able to get up on her own and walk into the indoor habitat,” the zoo wrote in the statement.

As of Wednesday, Ruth was doing well and the zoo’s animal care and vet teams were expected to continue to monitor her to ensure she was recovering.

In the video, people can be heard encouraging the toppled elephant, shouting, “Let’s go Ruth!” and “Come on Ruth!”

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