MILWAUKEE - She was stuck in a moat for about four hours but now Ruth the elephant is back inside safe and sound at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

It's a happy ending but officials say it could have turned into a very serious situation.

"It is a highly interesting situation," said Gerald Hay with the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Not only was it interesting says Hay, but potentially dangerous.

The more than 8,000 pound African elephant fell into a moat Monday and at first  she couldn't get out.

But Ruth was back to business as usual Tuesday as if nothing happened.

"We looked at her conditioning to see if she was injured when she went in, she was not," said Hay.

Not only were zoo officials worried about the elephant's safety, but their own.

"It's highly undesirable because then you're dealing with containment issues. Things that aren't anticipated. What is the animal going to do? Is she going to try to go into the public areas, is she going to try to move forward," he said.

After coaxing her out with treats, including pumpkins, zoo keepers realized Ruth fell into the moat after she slipped on the edge.

That's why Tuesday they were reinforcing those edges to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

"If there are any rounded edges, we want to make them square. If there was tree line near that would encourage them to reach to, we're going to address that too," said Hay.

And it was appropriate the zoo keepers gave Ruth treats Monday. It turns out it was her birthday. She turned 29.

"Her method of celebration was apparently jumping into the moat,"  he said with a smile.