RETIRE RUTH NOW!

These records are listed in the order they were received and the format they were received from the zoo. They include the January 3, 2014  "incident" when the zookeepers neglected to lock the barn door during a blizzard. The next morning they arrived at 7:30 a.m. to find Ruth out in the blizzard-which had reached whiteout conditions overnight-covered in ice. The records show it took five hours to resuscitate her. The temperatures at the time she was out reached -7 degrees F.

The next set of medical records show that the zoo then neglected to keep her frostbitten skin from becoming infected and she developed two types of staph infections and a strep infection in the areas where the frostbitten skin fell off. They then failed to get the correct  enteric-coated antibiotics and she went another two weeks before anyone noticed. By the time they did, ordered the 132 gram pills  and got her on the correct dosage, the infection had taken hold. It took nearly a year to for her to heal.

The October-November records describe the surgical amputation of 10" of her tail due to necrotic (dead) tissue and bone from the frostbite incurred in January, and from infection of the bone (osteomyelitis). The zoo continues to downplay Ruth's pain and suffering saying it was just a "mistake." However, the zoo was cited under the Animal Welfare Act and fined.