Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2018)
December 3, 2018 COMMUNITY THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11 Tua Tagovailoa’s season for the ages Continued from page 9 HEARTBREAKING NEWS. 300-pound baby Asian elephant Lily, center, is seen soon after her birth by mother Rose-Tu at the Oregon Zoo in this file photo from 2012. The community is in mourning following the sud- den and unexpected loss of Lily, the youngest of the elephant family at the zoo, one day before her sixth birthday. Despite exhaustive efforts by veterinarians and care staff to save her, Lily succumbed late in the evening of No- vember 29 to a sudden onset of endotheliotropic herpesvirus, a rapidly progressing and often fatal disease to which calves are particularly susceptible. (Photo/Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo, File) Community heartbroken as six- year-old Lily succumbs to virus The community is in mourning following the sudden and unexpected loss of Lily, the youngest of the elephant family at the Oregon Zoo, one day before her sixth birthday. Despite exhaustive efforts by veterinarians and care staff to save her, Lily succumbed late in the evening of November 29 to a sudden onset of endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), a rapidly progressing and often fatal disease to which calves are particularly susceptible. EEHV is known to be present in almost all Asian elephants, both in wild populations as well as those cared for by humans. Often, it remains latent, causing mild or no symptoms, but for reasons unknown it sometimes comes out of latency and causes disease. Once the disease becomes active in calves, it is usually fatal, often causing death within a few days even with intensive treatment. For this reason, the zoo routinely sends blood samples to the Smithsonian’s National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory. On Wednesday, November 27, blood sample analyses from the Smithsonian’s lab revealed the virus was active in Lily at very low levels. At that time, Lily showed no known clinical signs of the disease. However, the next morning, Lily began to exhibit lethargy and a disinterest in food prompting veterinary staff to begin immediate treatment with fluids and antiviral medication. She also was given a transfusion. Despite these efforts, the disease proved too much for her. Currently there is no vaccination against EEHV. In 1999, scientists at the Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins University developed a blood test that can detect the virus when it becomes active. Unfortunately, once the virus is active, there is usually very little time to treat an elephant. The virus affects wild elephants as well, although it is harder to identify and diagnose, and its occurrence in range countries is overshadowed by much more serious threats such as poaching, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict. Scientists have confirmed around 60 EEHV deaths among elephants in Asian range countries over the past decade. Scientists believe most, if not all, Asian elephants in the world carry some form of EEHV — an ancient virus that has evolved along with elephants for millions of years. For the past 16 years, the Oregon Zoo has contributed funding and blood samples from all its elephants to the Smithsonian lab as part of a collaborative international effort to find a vaccine or effective treatment for EEHV, which is the leading cause of death in Asian elephants under the age of eight in North America. “I can’t imagine a more devastating loss for this zoo family and our community,” said zoo director Dr. Don Moore. “Lily was the darling of the zoo. She was loved by everyone from her elephant family to the people who cared for her every day to her thousands of fans. Our staff did everything they could and fought to save her until the very end. Everyone is in mourning here. It is just heartbreaking.” The zoo closed all day Friday, including the evening’s scheduled ZooLights, to allow zoo staff to grieve the loss of Lily. The Oregon Zoo is located at 4001 S.W. Canyon Road in Portland. To learn more, call (503) 226-1561 or visit <www.oregon zoo.org>. More information about EEHV is available through the Smithsonian’s Na- tional Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory, <www.nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/nation al-elephant-herpesvirus-laboratory>. with 4,580 total yards, including 36 passing touchdowns and nine interceptions, and three more touchdowns on the ground. But neither Oklahoma (11-1) nor Washington State (10-2) was unde- feated during the regular season, and that should factor into the minds of Heisman voters. And Tua has been stingy with those picks, protecting the ball well; he didn’t throw his first interception until that LSU game. Team statistics also help tally Tua’s impact on Alabama. Under Tua, this year’s Alabama team scored 588 points through 12 games, including eight games in which they scored more than 50 points. With Hurts, last year’s squad, composed of mostly the same players, scored just 519 in all 14 games, including only three when they scored more than 50 points. Tua’s performance this season can also be mea- sured against other Ala- bama players. His 54 total touchdowns already rank fourth-best all-time for an Alabama program that has been around for 115 years. The three players ahead of him all had two or three years to amass their totals. Just think of what the sophomore could do with another season or two behind center. And all these numbers can’t show Tua’s unquanti- fiable talent: his speed PRODIGIOUS POLYNESIAN PASSER. Alabama and starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have dominated this season. The team tied a college football record by crushing all 12 of its regular-season opponents by at least 20 points. The last team to do that was Yale, in 1888, back when few other schools even knew how to play the game. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill) afoot, quick release, soft touch, and cool composure under pressure. Heisman voters should take this into consideration when rank- ing their choices. Hope- fully they won’t discount his lower numbers due to Alabama’s runaway vic- tories — wins that might not have happened with a different signal-caller. If Tua can win the Heisman Trophy and a national championship, he would be the first Polyne- sian quarterback to win both, and the only one to win two national titles. He’d also be the first Alabama quarterback to win a Heisman. If he somehow fails to accomplish either of these milestones this season, Tua Tagovailoa is just a sophomore with two more years to achieve them — and to add to his already impressive totals. The 2018 college football regular season may be over, but Asian-American sports fans still have plenty to look forward to, both this season and beyond. At press time, Alabama beat Georgia in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship match, 35-28. The semifinal playoff games, scheduled for Saturday, December 29, will feature #1 Alabama vs. #4 Oklahoma and #2 Clemson vs. #3 Notre Dame. The College Football Playoff National Championship will take place Monday, January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. Gene-edited baby claim by Chinese scientist sparks outrage Continued from page 5 out important issues such as whether and when gene editing is appropriate, she said. Another conference leader, Harvard Medical School dean Dr. George Daley, said he worries about other scientists trying this in the absence of regulations or a ban. “I would be concerned if this initial report opened the floodgates to broader practice,” Daley said. Notre Dame Law School professor O. Carter Snead, a former presidential adviser on bioethics, called the report “deeply troubling, if true.” “No matter how well intentioned, this intervention is dangerous, unethical, and represents a perilous new moment in human history,” he wrote in an e-mail. “These children, and their children’s children, have had their futures irre- vocably changed without consent, ethical review, or meaningful deliberation.” Concerns have been raised about how He says he proceeded, and whether parti- cipants truly understood the potential risks and benefits before signing up to attempt pregnancy with edited embryos. He says he began the work in 2017, but he only gave notice of it in November on a Chinese registry of clinical trials. The secrecy concerns have been com- pounded by a lack of proof for his claims. He has said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done. One independent expert even questioned whether the claim could be a hoax. Deem, the Rice scientist who says he took part in the work, called that ridiculous. “Of course the work occurred,” Deem said. “I met the parents. I was there for the informed consent of the parents.” q Talking Story: When Grandma Kia passes Continued from page 6 blessings and the bitterness of our homelands — if you don’t know how to properly protect and provide for good women — go find a grandma, any grandma, yours or mine don’t matter. Humbly ask her. Ask in your language or mine or mix, all the same. When she answers, take tidy notes. Dan tentu kasihan’illaah (and surely God will Love you). Nota: Dear readers, Please go find a grandma — A Hmong Cha clan grandma or a Bavarian-German-American one, a Spanish- or Russian-speaking one, a Native or settled or Pac Islander grandma, all the same. Hold both her trembly hands and thank her, your language or hers, she’ll know how you feel. Mending American broken-ness is really important. It is never too late. Go paperless! Read The AR – exactly as it’s printed here – online! Visit <www.asianreporter.com> and click the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to view our last two issues.