Un bébé gorille meurt dans un zoo canadien

[Animal 0]

August 19, 2006

Baby gorilla dies at Canadian zoo

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A two-week-old gorilla has died at a Canadian zoo after her mother's nursing routine was disrupted by other females and feedings by staff failed to maintain the baby's strength, zoo officials said on Friday.


The gorilla died late Thursday after females in the Calgary Zoo's gorilla troop took her away from her mother three times after she was born, creating stress for both the mother, named Zuri, and the newborn, whose energy was sapped, veterinarian Sandie Black said.

Supplemental feedings by zoo staff helped with nutrition but added to both gorillas' anxiety, Black told reporters.

"What we believe happened late in the afternoon yesterday as we were working toward separating the baby from Zuri for another supplemental feed is that baby ran out of the very small store of energy newborns have," she said.

"They don't have fat stores, they don't have adult, or mature, energy-handling mechanisms developed in the body yet and she essentially ran out of that gas."

Officials said the troop was aware of the loss of the baby, which was born Aug. 5, and was showing changes in behavior.

It is the second high-profile loss of a young animal born at the zoo in less than two years. In December 2004, a baby elephant died after being rejected by its mother.

The zoo said the newborn gorilla was snatched in recent days by the troop's dominant female, which allowed it to nurse, although she was not producing milk. The female, Tabitha, had to be immobilized to retrieve the baby.

Two days, later, Tabitha took the baby once more and had to be tranquilized again.

Zoo staff fed the small gorilla, but hours later another female grabbed her from Zuri and kept her for 30 minutes.

Throughout the incidents, Zuri, a first-time mother, showed signs of anxiety and her nursing became intermittent, then stopped on Wednesday night, the zoo said. The baby died before staff could give it another feeding.

There is a 30 percent mortality rate for gorillas born in captivity and a 42 percent rate in the wild, the zoo said.


Copyright 2005 Reuters