Photograph by Robbie Clark, via the Smithsonian National Zoo.Over the weekend, the Smithsonian National Zoo announced the death of one of its Asian elephants, who was put to sleep after a years-long battle with a degenerative bone and joint disease. This is remarkably sad news. Sadder still? The late elephant’s name was Kamala, and it looks like nobody is going to let her rest in peace. Yes, Kamala shares a name with Vice President Kamala Harris, who happens to be the Democratic candidate running for president in what polls suggest will be one of the closest elections in American history. And it’s true that the elephant is a long-standing Republican symbol, dating back as far as the Civil War. God forbid a coincidence—let alone two—happen in the run-up to Election Day, because now everybody is freaking me out. Upon receiving word of Kamala’s death, posters immediately began to speculate about “the meaning” of it all: Over the weekend DC’s Smithsonian National Zoo announced that it has euthanized an elephant named Kamala after decades of managing osteoarthritis. An 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁 named 𝗞𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗮, just days before the election. What is the meaning. pic.twitter.com/A2zXlOjObb — Spencer Allan Brooks (@SpencerSays) November 4, 2024 I will help you out: Kamala had suffered from osteoarthritis since at least May 2014, when she arrived at the Zoo. Osteoarthritis causes breakdown of joint tissue, and it progressively gets worse over time. The disease is particularly common in captive elephants. For the last decade, staffers were able to manage her condition with the help of various medications and twice-a-day physical therapy sessions. In recent weeks, however, Kamala’s health declined: Zookeepers noticed that her range of motion had dramatically diminished and she was no longer roaming about her habitat. That’s when the decision was made to euthanize her at the age of 50—the median lifespan for a female Asian elephant is 47 years old. That, folks, is “the meaning” of Kamala’s death. She was a sick, elderly elephant. Unfortunately, razor-thin polling margins and general election-induced psychosis appear to be fueling an appetite for something, anything, to divine the future. The crystal balls are fogged up, the prognosticator Nates have devolved into shrug emojis, and now the desperate among us want to know: Is the operative word in Kamala’s obituary “elephant” or, well, “Kamala”? A bad omen, but for whom? It is an elephant, the Republican animal, but named Kamala, like the Democratic candidate. The seers are troubled. https://t.co/PZxpsCaoX2 — Devin Monahan (@Devin_J_Monahan) November 3, 2024 “For whom” is this “bad omen” intended, you ask? Well, nobody, except Kamala the elephant and the rest of her herd at the National Zoo. You see, Kamala went through a lot in her 50 years: She was orphaned as a baby in Sri Lanka, where she was born around 1975, and moved to the Calgary Zoo in Canada the following year to participate in a breeding program. She moved to the National Zoo in 2014, along with her daughter Maharani and Swarna, who had been with her in Calgary since 1976 (her son, Calvin, has gone on to father more than a dozen elephants globally). At the time of Kamala’s death, the Zoo’s Asian elephant herd included Spike, Bozie, Trong Nhi, and Nhi Linh, in addition to Maharani and Swarna. After Kamala was put to sleep, zookeepers invited her surviving herd mates to view her body—an activity that scientists believe is part of the elephant grieving process. According to the Zoo, Maharani spent “quite a long time investigating the body, blowing into her mouth and trunk and nudging” her deceased mother’s head. Maybe it would be good for all of us if we didn’t interpret Kamala’s death as a premonition—after all, she was an elephant, and did not care about the presidential election. Here’s what she did care about: Since she was largely raised by humans, Kamala formed deep attachments to the humans in her life. She reportedly used to “rumble and squeak” in excitement when approached by her caregivers at the Zoo. Keepers describe her as “a smart and inquisitive individual who held a dominant role within the herd.” And this video from 2017 shows her appearing to have the time of her life, scooping sand with her trunk. Kamala even mended fences during her time at the National Zoo—when she first got to DC, she and her herd mate Bozie did not vibe, to the extent that the two had to live separately. But in 2021, caregivers noticed the elephants interacting positively during socialization time and decided to reintroduce them, which turned out to be a success. According to the Zoo, Bozie exhibited “gentle, calm and respectful” behaviors while inspecting Kamala’s body after her death. It appears the beef was truly behind them. If we are going to derive any metaphorical significance from Kamala’s passing ahead of Election Day, perhaps it should be this. May Kamala rest not only in peace, but also in the context of all in which she lived, and all that came before her.The post The Internet Is Projecting Its Election Anxiety Onto the Death of a National Zoo Elephant Named Kamala first appeared on Washingtonian.