OPERATION MAGGIE MIGRATION: 517th AS to fly elephant to California Published Oct. 26, 2007 ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- The U.S. Air Force will fly Maggie, a 25-year-old African elephant at the Alaska Zoo, on a C-17 cargo aircraft to her new home in California. Maggie is scheduled to fly out of Elmendorf Air Force Base to Travis AFB on Thursday, Nov. 1. Officials with the Alaska Zoo and the Performing Animals Welfare Society (PAWS), the sanctuary where Maggie will call home, contacted the Air Force because no commercial options existed to safely move the elephant. The PAWS organization is reimbursing the Air Force for all costs incurred from moving Maggie. The 10,000-pound, 10-by-8-by-18-foot crate designed to move Maggie arrived last week at the Alaska Zoo. The entire trip is expected to take approximately 12 hours from the time when Maggie leaves the Alaska Zoo to her arrival at PAWS. "In addition to providing flexible airlift capability for the Department of Defense, the Air Force can provide selective assistance when commercial options aren't available. We look forward to flying Maggie to her new home in California on an Alaska based C-17," said Lt. Gen. Douglas Fraser, 11th Air Force commander. Maggie went to the Alaska Zoo in 1983 when she was just a year old. The board of directors of the zoo voted to relocate Maggie to PAWS last month after deciding it was in the best interest to her health and well-being to be with other elephants in a milder climate. Elephants can live up to 70 years.