ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Animal handlers agonized over the issue for more than a year: the wisdom of moving Alaska's only elephant away from the only home she has ever known.

Nine elephant experts were consulted from zoos and animal parks in the United States and Canada, and a decision was made: Maggie stays.

The 22-year-old African elephant will continue to reside at the Alaska Zoo - instead of going to a warmer climate - with the understanding that her accommodations will be improved and she'll have to maintain a busy schedule, including aerobic workouts on an elephant treadmill. In other words, keepers say, Maggie's life will be all the richer for it.

"We felt we owed Alaska the right to continue to make Alaska the home for Maggie. She has an adoring crowd. The whole community is her herd," said Anita Pritchard, a member of the zoo board that voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping Maggie.

Maggie arrived at the zoo in 1983 as an infant when her herd in Kruger National Park in South Africa was culled. She joined Annabelle, a more easygoing Asian elephant born in India in 1964.

When Annabelle died of a chronic foot infection on Dec. 14, 1997, the question of Maggie's loneliness had to be addressed. Zoo staff wondered whether she should be moved to another zoo with more elephants. The American Zoological Association recommends that female elephants be kept in groups of three or more.

A zoo committee mulled the issue and consulted the experts, Edwards said. The committee even considered moving Maggie to the 550-acre North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, N.C.

But one expert felt that Maggie was healthy and content just where she was. Most of the others felt her situation wasn't ideal but neither was moving her.

At a hefty 9,120 pounds, Maggie could stand to lose a little weight. Zoo officials are talking with engineers and manufacturers about building Maggie her very own exercise equipment.

Designing and building the first elephant treadmill could cost between $150,000 and $250,000, Edwards said. The zoo has talked with mining experts because they know about heavy loads, conveyers and belts.

"We hope to be the first zoo in the world with an elephant treadmill," Edwards said.

Elephant keeper Rob Smith has been taking Maggie on walks around the zoo's 20-acre property after-hours for exercise.

Off-the ground feeding stations will be built so that Maggie will have to stretch for her food.

"She won't get any food she doesn't work for," Edwards said.

While the feedback has been mostly positive from Alaskans and other zoos in Canada and the United States, Edwards said, the decision to keep Maggie has been criticized by animal rights groups.

Mary Robinson, of Talent, Ore., a member of the "Free Maggie" group, wanted Maggie moved to an elephant sanctuary. Sanctuaries in Tennessee and California had said they would take her, Robinson said.

"I am very angry," she said. "My biggest concern is socialization. Elephants, especially female elephants, are social. They have an innate need for other elephant companions."

Smith said zoo officials considered what they knew about Maggie from talking to the experts, and what they didn't know.

"This is the only elephant in the entire state of Alaska. The people love her. When you hear the people running down the hill yelling 'Maggie the elephant!' your decision would be made," Smith said.