Michael Jackson’s Elephant Has Big-Time Dental Work
A 34-year-old elephant named Ali at Florida’s Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has just undergone an intense, drawn out dental procedure to remove his tusk. Ali was once part of the menagerie at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California; he was donated to the Florida zoo in 1997.
The dental work was complicated and needed an international team to pull it off (and out). The zoo explains on Facebook: “In an enormous effort to provide the utmost care for … Ali, a collaborative team of nearly 30 experts from around the world came together to perform a specialized dental surgery to remove the remaining portion of his right tusk. Ali had previously undergone tusk procedures in 2019 and 2023, but due to the complex anatomy, the large tusk size and the anesthetic time constraints on such a large patient, a multi-phased treatment approach was required.”
The tusk size and the tricky anesthesia requirements for such a big patient, a multi-phase treatment – drawn out over nearly five years – was necessary. The most recent, and hopefully final, phase of the procedure took three and a half hours to complete.
The medical brainpower brought in to attend to Ali included wildlife veterinarians, anesthesiologists from South Africa and India, an equine veterinary dentist, and two dozen other vets and veterinary technicians.
Born in the wild, Ali is one of three African elephants residing at the Jacksonville zoo, along with females Thandi and Sheena. According to the zoo, the big fellow has recovered from his surgery well and has rejoined his companions in the main habitat.
Photo credit: Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens via Facebook
