† Vanni is a dead Female ♀ African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), , who died 2006-08 at Nikolaev Zoo, in Ukraine, . Official death reason described as Anorexia.
1: Dan Koehl (trainer from 1999 to 1999)
Vanni was born wild 1973 at Africa unspecified location.
Vanni was the second most northern living elephant in the world, (the most northern was Maggie from Alaska Zoo) since Lieto is just above 60 degrees North. From 1995 to 2005 she was Finlands only elephant, and many people, especially animal rights people, felt that it was sad for her to be the only elephant. Vanni was one of the larger female African elephants in Europe: her shoulder height was 2.85 meters! Her frontfoot circumpherence was 1.30 meters. She came to Finland (Circus Finlandia) 1980 from former Yugoslavia, together with another African elephant which died in Ulcus during the quarantine. 1984 she came to Zoolandia. During those years she was chained at nights until 1990, after this walked free in her box. Between 1990-1995 she had company from Pepita, an Asian female bought from Circus Sariola in Finland. The two females were nighttime separated in two boxes, wearing no chains, and was daytime kept together free. Pepita died 1995 in Uterus cancer, and since then Vanni had the whole area of 210 m2. She shared the house (700 m2) with sheep, mini-pigs, horses, donkeys and birds. Especially the sheep were her friends, and she fed them often hay. Even children could walk into her box, she never harmed anyone. Her right hindleg was a little deformed, so she limped a little bit. In 2005 it was decided to transfer her to Ukraine. She did not survive her new home in Ukraine more than 9 months. But those 9 months was a victory for the animal rights activists who "won in the end". Somehow Vanni did not appreciate their support, she stopped eating in Nikolaev Zoo and died in young age.
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