But Maggie would go nowhere near the contraption.

Finally in 2007, after TV game-show host Bob Barker donated $750,000 to help pay for her transfer and future care, the Alaska Zoo Board relented, and Maggie took a flight on a cargo plane to her new home in California.

Other northern zoos have also given up their elephants. In 2005, for instance, the zoo in nippy Detroit, Michigan, closed its elephant exhibit and sent its two specimens - Winky and Wanda - to a sanctuary in toastier Tennessee.

These days, Maggie the world traveler - Africa to Alaska to California - is warmer, slimmer, and has lots of elephantine friends.