Juno the Elephant Will Receive Cancer Treatment in March

Juno, the El Paso Zoo’s elephant will receive treatment to combat a malignant tumor.

While cancer is rare in elephants, the El Paso Zoo team sought opinions from specialists and experts from across the country on the best course of action to take on the 49-year-old Asian elephant diagnosed with a distinct and malignant mass in her right mammary gland.

Juno will be receiving a localized chemotherapy treatment which will begin later in March. According to the El Paso Zoo, “...the tumor will then be infused with a chemotherapy drug and then treated with a small electric pulse to make it more susceptible to the chemotherapy drug.”

This advanced procedure requires a much smaller amount of the chemotherapy drug and reduces the side effects that come with chemotherapy drugs in her system.

Veterinarians at this time are positive that this is the best course of action and will minimize Juno’s downtime and increase her chances of healing progressively faster.

We wish Juno a speedy recovery and we’ll keep you posted on her recovery as we know more.