- [Tarah] We suffered a huge loss when we lost Lily,
she was a big part of the herd.
- [Shawn] A lot of the team have been here for over a decade.
So we've been through here through the whole life of Lily,
her birth, her first moments with her dad,
her first moments with her family.
- [Jason] I think the elephants are bouncing back
a lot quicker than the keepers.
Lily had a huge impact on everybody that worked around her.
- [Tarah] It's hard.
- [Bob] She was just that ray of sunshine that you had every day.
No matter what else was going on in your life,
you knew that this little girl was having a great day,
and you were gonna do everything you could
to keep up with her.
- [Shawn] I see Lily in her brother, and in her mom, in her family.
She was such a light in our lives.
You know, she was very boisterous, and very loud,
and loved doing things, she was such a spirit.
- [Dimas] She was a very smart elephant,
and it's sad that we couldn't see her be an adult,
and I'm sure she would've been smart like Rose is,
and that she would've been a great mama also I think.
- [Tarah] Well I think we're all spending a lot more time with Rose.
She was very busy as a mom, like one would expect.
So Rose comes over to us seeking out more attention,
and we've definitely been spoiling her,
giving her extra treats,
more for us than for her.
- [Dimas] She's coming around, she's doing a lot more now,
she's kinda engaged.
- [Tarah] Hanging out with Shine,
she seems to be really close with Chendra.
And everybody's kinda getting their place back.
- [Jason] You wanna be there for her.
Just being around and being present
I think says a lot in the elephant world.
I think elephants are smart enough to know
you know, we kinda feel the same way.
Because I'm sure as much as we read their body language,
they can just as easily read ours.
- [Tarah] When Lily passed away from EEHV,
we had a huge outpouring of support.
I have some friends over in India
that work with elephants there in the wild.
They've experienced losing calves to this as well.
I realize now that I had no idea what to expect
how fast and sudden it was.
The team here did an amazing job trying to save her.
I wish it was enough, but it's a really bad virus.
- [Bob] Having EEHV strike so close to home
has strengthened all of our resolves
to fighting this deadly disease.
Nothing makes it more real than have it affect your family.
One in five elephant calves succumb to EEHV.
And we're gonna do whatever it takes to end that.
- [Shawn] It's really, really tough to see her pass,
but part of our job is bigger than just being there
when there's fun times in the pool.
Part of our job is to be there when they're sick,
when they're not feeling well, to comfort them,
to be with their families,
to help everybody through these kinda times.
Everything that we work towards is to provide them comfort
no matter what happens.
- [Bob] You know, this is a massive loss for all of us,
but we have to continue, we have to move on,
we have to make sure that her death isn't in vain.
We're gonna continue to push research so other folks
don't have to go through what we've went through.
- [Tarah] We still have our five elephants that we love dearly,
and wanna do a good job for them.
So we just keep it up.