Limba, the 50-year-old Asian elephant housed at the Bowmanville Zoo, was euthanized early Tuesday after a bout with cancer.

The decision was made to end her life after zoo staff found a large quantity of blood in her stool around 11 p.m., and after testing discovered there was “no hope” for the elephant, according to zoo owner Michael Hackenberger. She died at 12:35 a.m.

A post-mortem is planned to confirm her cause of death, but Hackenberger said he and zoo veterinarian Wendy Korver believe she had cancer. She had a tumour on her spleen and others throughout her abdomen, he said.

But her final day was a peaceful one, he told the Toronto Star.

“She spent yesterday afternoon outside the zoo playing in our floodplain, happy, alert.”

Limba was sedated before her euthanization and treated with the anti-inflammatory drug Banamine and “at no point did she experience pain,” Hackenberger said.

“She was surrounded by the people who she loved and loved her.”

Photos: Limba through the years

Limba was the sole elephant at the Bowmanville Zoo, where she had lived since 1989. She was also Canada’s oldest elephant.

Just two weeks before her death she marched in the Bowmanville Santa Claus parade. Her appearance was met with protests from animal activists who argued it was inhumane to allow the elephant to participate.

Zoo officials said in November a grapefruit-sized growth on Limba’s left side was possibly cancer. She also suffered from chronic digestive problems and was transported to the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph for further testing after the growth was discovered.

Some had argued that Limba should be moved to an animal sanctuary, such as the one in California that took in three elephants from the Toronto Zoo this fall. And, controversially, Limba had continued to perform at circuses and at the zoo despite her advanced age.

Critics had alleged it was cruel to keep Limba living without the company of other elephants, but zoo administration maintained Limba’s was a special case. She was born in Asia but raised in captivity in Quebec and didn’t encounter another elephant for the first 26 years of her life.

After Hackenberger brought her to Bowmanville, she had difficulty integrating with the herd of elephants, which at the time numbered five. All five of those elephants have since died, the last in 2011. But she did bond with the zoo family, especially Hackenberger’s young son.

Even the death of the 7,020-pound pachyderm has caused divisive debate. Commenters on the zoo’s Facebook page argued among themselves as to the cause of her death and the ethics of keeping her in captivity.

Limba will be buried at the Bowmanville Zoo. A public memorial is in the works but no details have been released.

Her longtime trainer, Robert Crawford, was too emotional to comment on Tuesday. But Ottawa filmmaker Matt Belyea has spent time with the duo over the past few years when making a documentary. He recalled a dynamic friendship and special relationship between the two, the focus of an upcoming documentary.

Crawford lives at the zoo and was used to spending all day with Limba. She was afraid of thunderstorms, so Crawford would sleep in the elephant barn with her during those nights.

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“The two of them absolutely love each other. We went for walks in the town, we went to the river and splashed around and played. We rode around in the cornfield when she was grazing. She was an incredibly amazing animal.”

“When I first met her in the summer, she was quite happy and there were no signs. As the year progressed, she started to slow down a little,” Belyea said.

Clarington Ward 3 councillor Corinna Traill issued a statement Tuesday offering sympathy to Limba’s friends.

“Limba has been a fixture in our community for well over two decades. She has united our community at many local events and brought smiles to thousands of people,” Traill said.