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Time is running out for the elephant that crushed to death zookeeper Helen Schofield in April.
Unless Franklin Zoo can raise $1.5 million to train Mila so she can be transported in a special crate, the elephant will have to be put down.
Schofield, 42, who was Franklin Zoo's owner and operator, had been preparing the ex-circus elephant to be transported to the Performing Animal Welfare Society in San Andreas.
She had been training Mila how to live in a crate during the trip and told sanctuary co-founder Pat Derby in March that it was going well.
Spearheading the campaign to transport Mila is Schofield's sister, Jenny Chung, who says she is determined to fulfil her sister's legacy.
She said her sister would have been the first one to say that the most important thing for Mila is to get her with other elephants.
"Helen dedicated herself to that goal. I'm determined to see her dreams through," Chung said.
"We're asking the people of New Zealand and any country if they believe in Mila's future and believe in her need to be with other elephants to help us raise those funds so that Mila can go off to another sanctuary.
"The only alternative is to put her down. We need $1.5 million for Mila to live out her life."
Chung said it is absolutely worth spending that amount of money on one animal.
Kevin Buley from Auckland Zoo said training an elephant to be ready to fly is not easy and it could take up to a year to get Mila to her new home.
"There are a number of steps involved. You need to be able to construct an elephant proof crate for her, which is big and expensive, she needs to be able to get used to that crate, which can often take several months."
"It can be done and it has been done. It is rare with such a large animal."
Chung says she thinks Mila is "an incredible animal", even though the elephant cost her sister her life.
"I miss her every single day."
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