Zoo gorilla Zuri in critical condition after emergency surgery
Zuri, 19, had surgery after staff found a severe abdominal infection
One of the Calgary Zoo’s western lowland gorillas is fighting for its life, although keepers are encouraged by the primate’s small signs of improvement.
“Zuri is still in critical condition. She has made a little bit of positive improvement in terms of overall responsiveness, but she still has us quite worried,” said Dr. Doug Whiteside, senior staff veterinarian at the zoo.
Staff recently noticed subtle behaviour changes in the 19-year-old gorilla’s appetite and activity level and took some tests and samples on Friday.
Zuri’s condition improved slightly over the weekend. But on Wednesday, staff conducted a CT scan and discovered Zuri had a severe abdominal infection that required emergency surgery.
“It looks like it probably started in her intestinal tract. It’s a disease called Diverticulitis where she gets an outpouching of her intestine and that breaks out and seizes the abdominal bacteria,” Whiteside said.
“This happens in people, it happens in other species ... There’s no real known cause in some cases. There’s no obvious evidence in this case what was the inciting factor.”
Zuri is currently being kept in the back bedrooms for gorillas, receiving round-the-clock care and monitoring, and taking multiple medications, said Whiteside, adding he hopes staff can reintroduce solid foods within the next few days.
“She has become a little more responsive than she has been. She’s interacting more when keepers call her name and she actually has started to take a bit of liquid, which is a really good sign,” he said.
“She’s still quite nauseous and that will continue.
“We’ll put her on some medication to help deal with that nausea and help get her GI system moving again.”
Whiteside said another gorilla at the zoo was hit with a similar disease several years ago. The animal care team was able to manage that animal for a few years. But in the end, the gorilla died from the illness.
However, he said each case is different and he wasn’t able to determine the chance of recovery in Zuri’s case. He said many of the same specialists that worked on the last gorilla are helping Zuri in its recovery.
He added the disease is not contagious and has not affected the other members of the troop, which consists of Zuri’s seven-year-old daughter, Yewande, along with new mother 15-year-old Kioja and her newborn baby, 15-year-old Dossi and silverback Kakinga, 37.
“It’s very hard on us to see any of our animals ill. Particularly Zuri, she’s pretty special to us. She’s had some challenges in the early part of her life,” he said.
The average lifespan for a female gorilla in captivity is about 40, and for males, it’s in the low 30s.
Zuri came to the Calgary Zoo from Toronto in April 2001.
The gorilla gave birth to her first baby in 2006. Mother and child were doing well at first, but the newborn died 12 days later after Zuri’s more dominant half-sister began taking the infant away and Zuri stopped nursing the baby.
Two years later, Zuri had Yewande. Staff said this time around, Zuri displayed appropriate parenting behaviour and was protective of the baby.
Whiteside said the rest of the troop have been very curious about Zuri, constantly peering into the back rooms to get a glimpse of her.
Kakinga also went to see her when she got up for the first time.
“They’re all quite worried about her, just as we are,” he said.
“She’s got a long road ahead of her to recover and we’re just going to take it day by day.”