Employees at the Little Rock Zoo said goodbye to the oldest living western lowland gorilla, Trudy, on Wednesday morning.
The gorilla, 63, was found dead in her cage by the zoo’s director, Susan Altrui. As one of the last wild-caught gorillas, Trudy had been living at the Arkansas zoo for more than 31 years.
“There are so many memories, stories and anecdotes to share about Trudy,” Altrui said in a statement. “She is a cherished member of the Little Rock Zoo family. To say that she will be missed and that her absence is felt is an understatement. We are glad to know she had a good home with us here.”
On the zoo’s official Twitter account, her death was announced on Thursday morning. “You will be missed, sweet girl,” the caption reads.
One of her former keepers, Syd Tanner, called her the “boss lady” of her male group, while others described her as spunky and having a mind of her own, CNN reports.
While most zoo gorillas are born in captivity nowadays, Trudy was one of the very last to be caught and brought into captivity. Back in 1988, she and her breeding partner, Ollie, were the first two of their kind to live in Arkansas, the zoo reports.
According to the National Zoo, she outlived most gorillas of her species by 10 years, while most live to be 40 or 50 in the wild and in captivity, respectively.
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Over the past 25 years, the number of gorillas like Trudy has declined by 60 per cent due to poaching and disease, according to the World Wildlife Organization.
The western lowland gorillas are native to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon. Typically, they live in groups led by a silverback gorilla, the National Zoo says.
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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca
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