SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A birthday party like no other was held in Northern California for an elephant named Lulu.
"She's officially the oldest African elephant in captivity in the country," said Madeleine Traver, social media coordinator with the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
Traver says on average elephants live about 17 years in captivity versus when they're in the wild and can live 60 to 70 years.
Lulu turned 57 Friday.
"At PAWS, we take in animals that were a victim of the exotic animal trade or the circus and give these animals [a] forever home," she said.
According to their website, PAWS was founded in 1984 by former Hollywood animal trainer and author Pat Derby and her partner Ed Stewart.
The original PAWS sanctuary was in Galt, California, and was 30 acres. As time and growth progressed, construction of new animal habitats and the relocation of the remaining animals from the Galt facility to the expanded 2,300-acre ARK 2000 sanctuary in San Andreas began.
That is where Friday's birthday party was held. Lulu surrounded by her animal friends and PAWS staff.
"Today was really fun," said Traver. "We had all the volunteers who've been with PAWS for upwards of 20 years, come out and celebrate Lulu and one of our volunteers made her an incredible birthday cake out of all sorts of veggies. So she got to enjoy her birthday cake and be amongst people who love and care about her. And she also has a best friend. So we made sure that the best friend also got a birthday cake as well. So that it was fair."
Traver told ABC10 Lulu was captured in Swaziland when she was only two years old then brought to the San Francisco Zoo until she came to PAWS in 2005.
To learn more about PAWS, click HERE.
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