MILWAUKEE -- Ruth, an African elephant, was stuck in the moat at the elephant habitat at the Milwaukee County Zoo for several hours Monday, WISN in Milwaukee reported.

Zoo keepers scrambled to the rescue when the elephant somehow slipped into the 6-foot-deep moat.

Since Ruth had never been in the moat, she wasn't trained to climb out. But zoo keepers were able to coax her over to a set of stairs.

"We used lots of treats, a few pumpkins. When we had our backs turned, she climbed out. Wanted to prove she didn't need the help," Chuck Wickenhauser, the zoo director, said.

Around this time last year, a polar bear fell into a much deeper moat. It had to be tranquilized and lifted out with a crane after 17 days.

Hoisting was never an option with the 8,000-pound Ruth. Instead, they would have built the moat up. Construction crews were almost brought in to dump gravel in the moat to help the elephant climb out, but that was unnecessary.

The moat is there to make sure the elephants can't make it to the public. The zoo director doesn't think the moats need to be drastically redesigned.

"We might make a few alterations, but I think she's learned a lesson," Wickenhauser said.

Although Ruth suffered only a few minor scrapes on her hide, she'll probably stay inside for a couple of days.

Ruth, a 28-year-old elephant, arrived at the zoo from Brownsville, Texas, in 2006.