A California sanctuary owner says an African elephant is still welcome after killing a zookeeper as she was preparing to move the animal from New Zealand.
Pat Derby's Performing Animal Welfare Society in San Andreas was going to be home to the 39-year-old elephant, now called Mila after being known as Jumbo during nearly 30 years with the circus.
But its fate is uncertain after Helen Schofield, a vet and owner of Franklin Zoo near Auckland, was crushed to death on Wednesday.
"We will have to negotiate with whoever becomes her new owner," Ms Derby said.
For the past four years Mila has been at the zoo while Dr Schofield worked to place her elsewhere. Ms Derby said she and Dr Schofield had been working on the move for about two years.
Dr Schofield was training Mila to live in a crate during the trip and exchanged emails with Ms Derby a month ago saying the training was going well and she was feeling good about the move.
"We didn't actually have a date," Ms Derby said. "It was sort of whenever crate training was finished and they felt she was comfortable enough to make the trip."
Hans Kriek, executive director of Save Animals from Exploitation, said he talked to Dr...
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