Alfredo Torres

Seneca Park Zoo

A Greece doctor was one of the people called in when Genny C went into labor and he was there when her baby died.

Never in his life, did Dr. Alfredo Torres think he would be witness to the birth of an elephant much less the death of one. It is an experience he says he won't soon forget.

"There was no nearby ICU, no ultrasound with which to follow the baby's movement, no pediatrician, no anesthetist.” Dr. Torres wrote in a journal entry he made after Genny C’s baby died.

“I felt panic,” he continued. “What could I do if anything went wrong? Then I remembered what to do."

Dr. Torres began to pray.

Torres was part of the elephant's on-call team. He arrived at the zoo soon after Genny C went into labor, then waited to witness a miracle that never came.

"The mood obviously changed from glee and excitement and then solely became one of gloom," he said.

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Torres works in the emergency department of Rochester General Hospital. The zoo invited him to be part of the birth, not for his medical expertise but, for his other skill, as a photographer. Photography is Torres' hobby. The Seneca Park Zoo and its animals are his favorite subjects.

"It's very unusual for someone in my position to have even been allowed to be there,” he said. “I feel totally privileged and honored that I was not only invited, but I was allowed to stay and share their pain and emotion."

The death of a baby elephant may seem far removed from the human experience Torres faces daily at the hospital. But he says it's not.

"The range of emotion at the scene is pretty much what we often experience in the emergency department in crisis situations,” he explained. “We gather the family, the breaking of news, people take the news in different ways. There's the whole range of emotion from anger and denial, tears held back. There was nobody there who was not touched by this experience. "

Torres said the staff members who attended to Genny C deserve a great deal of recognition, not just for the level of care they gave, but for their caring.