Sir: The female elephant fondly called ‘Saheli’ died in the Marghazar Zoo Islamabad due to the negligence of its attending staff. The female elephant died at the young age of 22, whereas the lifespan of an elephant is the same as that of a human being. Saheli was trained to ‘beg’ from zoo visitors; the money collected from beggary was used as bakhshish by the zoo staff. It seems that the female elephant had more integrity and self-respect then our leaders because she preferred to die rather than to live by begging. DR IRFAN ZAFARIslamabad