What is going on?? Business as usual. How much did this private dump get to dispose of Cindy? And with the approval of the Health(?) Department.

The News Tribune

Cindy's final ride goes awry

Cindy the elephant was buried at the Pierce County Landfill in Graham, covered with dirt and then garbage - against the wishes of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium officials who thought they had arranged a more dignified disposal for the popular pachyderm.

"We're very disappointed and very upset," zoo spokeswoman Jean Jackman said Monday. "The entire zoo staff is upset."

Zoo officials contracted with QAR Services of Graham to haul the 8,000-pound elephant's body to Baker Commodities, a rendering plant in Seattle, for cremation, Point Defiance deputy director John Houck said.

"We had checked out pretty thoroughly with our hauler to have this animal sent there, and then, without consulting us, they made the decision in mid-transfer to go to the Pierce County Landfill," he said. "I'm upset. I'm frustrated. I'm perplexed by it."

"We had gone to great pains to talk about the fact that this was an animal that was very well known in Tacoma, and we wanted this handled exactly right, and that didn't happen."

Cindy, who came to Tacoma in 1965 as a 3-year-old baby and spent most of her 40 years as a star attraction at the Point Defiance Zoo, was much loved by Tacoma-area residents despite her reputation for being ill-tempered.

Zoo veterinarians euthanized her a week ago after crippling arthritis robbed her of the ability to stand.

They performed a necropsy Wednesday, and Cindy's body was loaded up Thursday for the trip to what zoo officials thought was a dignified cremation. They learned Monday that Cindy's body was instead taken to the landfill.

"There is no crematorium in Seattle. It's a rendering plant," said Charlotte Mothershed, owner of QAR, the hauling company the zoo agreed to pay $550 for the transport service.

"It is my fault," Mothershed said. "I did take it to the landfill because it was large. I did get approval from the health department. I didn't consult the rendering plant because sometimes they don't take large animals."

Mothershed said she had no idea of the esteem in which Cindy was held by Tacoma-area residents, many of whom remember chipping in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters as children for an elephant house so the baby "with the cutest pink ears" could live at the zoo.

Crews at the landfill, alerted that an elephant was on the way, dug a hole for the carcass and then covered the body with the dirt from the hole, operations manager Jim Crandall said.

"Whenever animals are brought to the landfill, we call it special waste, and they require direct burial," he said.

There are special sections of the landfill for such burials, Crandall said. Once the body is covered with dirt, "then we put daily (landfill) cover over that area.... There's a lot of garbage over it now."

"We were surprised that Cindy died," he added, "but not surprised that Cindy would come there. There are other animals that people bring there, so it's a common practice."

Crandall couldn't say what it cost to bury the behemoth in the landfill.

Houck said he thought Baker Commodities would cremate Cindy's remains, but Mike Bulleri, the company's assistant manager, said his facility only does rendering - the reduction of an animal carcass into fats, bone meal and other byproducts.

"We're not a cremator," he said.

Bulleri added that he's not sure his company could even handle an animal that big.

Rendering would have been OK with zoo officials if they'd known that's what the company did, Houck said. But they never expected Cindy's body to wind up in the landfill.

QAR apologized to zoo officials "and said they hadn't foreseen the consequences of doing that," Houck said. "They said they were very, very sorry."

"They must have thought it just wasn't a big deal," he said. "But it's a very big deal to us. Cindy was very important to Tacoma. This is not what we had planned for Cindy. We wanted a dignified end to her life, and we're still hoping people will remember Cindy with dignity."

Kris Sherman: 253-597-8659

kris.sherman@mail.tribnet.com