TACOMA — Officials at a Tacoma zoo say a much-loved 33-year-old walrus has died after surgery.
The News Tribune reported that the Pacific walrus called E.T. did not recover from anesthesia Thursday after a two-hour surgery to drain a bacteria-filled abscess in his neck.
Point Defiance Zoo &Aquarium head veterinarian Dr. Karen Wolf says E.T. had been ill for weeks with a serious bacterial infection, had not eaten for more than two weeks and suffered from painful arthritis.
Zoo Deputy Director John Houck called the walrus a “well-loved member” of the zoo family who “delighted generations of visitors.”
The walrus arrived in Tacoma in August 1982 from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, after oil workers spotted him wandering alone. They finally rescued him and named him after Steven Spielberg’s extraterrestrial.
E.T. was one of three walruses at the Tacoma zoo.
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