They regularly had her present herself on the slide-out area so that trainers could sit children on her back during shows. This was done even while Gudrun was heavily pregnant. In 1993, Gudrun gave birth to a second female calf, named Nyar. Nyar was born with physical and psychological disabilities and after a few months, Gudrun became aggressive with her as her symptoms worsened; Gudrun even attempted to drown Nyar repeatedly. Gudrun was impregnated again almost immediately after Nyar and the little time between the two pregnancies did not give her body enough time to recover. Trainers continued to have her haul out on the slide-out area while pregnant, meaning the full force of Gudruns weight was putting pressure on the unborn calf. This final pregnancy resulted in Gudruns death. The third calf was stillborn and became stuck within her body. In order to remove the calf, trainers inserted a metal hook and cable into Gudruns body and used a winch to pull the dead calf out of her. The resulting internal bleeding from this act slowly killed her over the following four days. Before dying Gudrun approached the gate where Nyar was, as if to make amends, before she finally passed away.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 15:05:25 +0000