Elmwood Park Zoo loses jaguar, 18, to cancer

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- An 18-year-old jaguar who spent most of her life at an eastern Pennsylvania zoo has died of cancer.

Officials at the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown say the spotted jaguar known as "Cali" was euthanized Wednesday as her condition declined.

Zoo executive director Al Zone calls Cali "a magnificent creature," and says she will be missed by her zoo family.

OFficials say she had been diagnosed last fall with lymphoma, and had undergone chemotherapy.

She had lived at Elmwood Park since January 1996, a few months after her birth at a Florida nature park.

Elmwood Park's male jaguar, Anasazi, died of kidney failure last year at age 19.

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Online: Elmwood Park Zoo