Milenko Kindl

DALLAS - The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named
Jenny, has died at the Dallas Zoo — her home for more than half a
century, a spokesman said Friday.
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Zoo officials decided to euthanize Jenny on Thursday night because of
an inoperable tumor in her stomach. Jenny had stopped eating and
drinking recently, and tests showed she was unlikely to recover, zoo
spokesman Sean Greene said.

"The last couple of weeks we noticed that she hadn't been feeling all
that great," Greene said. "It was a quality-of-life decision."

The International Species Information System, which maintains records
on animals at 700 institutions around the world, confirmed earlier
this year that Jenny was the oldest gorilla in its database.

The zoo held a birthday bash in May to celebrate Jenny's longevity,
complete with a cake made of a frozen fruit treats for the guest of
honor.

Jenny was said to have a sweet disposition and enjoyed being around
people. She was often seen napping below a fig tree in her habitat.

"We had a tough time saying goodbye," said Todd Bowsher, curator of
the zoo's mammals in the Wilds of Africa exhibit.

"It's very sad that she's passed on, but what a great life she's had,"
said Kristen Lukas, curator of conservation and science at Cleveland
Metroparks Zoo in Ohio and the gorilla species survival plan
coordinator for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Jenny, a Western lowland gorilla, was born in the wild and was
acquired by the zoo in 1957. She gave birth in 1965 to a female named
Vicki, and officials aren't sure why she didn't conceive again. Vicki
was sent to a Canadian zoo at age 5.

At the time of Jenny's death she was one of five gorillas at the
Dallas Zoo.

Gorillas in the wild normally live to age 30 or 35, but they can
survive years longer in a zoo, with veterinary care and protection
from predators. Still, of the roughly 360 gorillas in North American
zoos, only four were over 50 as of this spring.

According to the International Species Information System, the oldest
living gorilla is now Colo, a 51-year-old female at the Columbus Zoo
who was the first gorilla born in captivity.

Just last month, another gorilla at the Dallas Zoo, 43-year-old
Hercules, died after undergoing a medical procedure for spinal
disease.

In 2004, Dallas police shot and killed a 13-year-old gorilla named
Jabari at the zoo after it jumped over a wall, bit three people and
snatched up a toddler by his teeth. The enclosure was remodeled and
the city paid a fine to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Milenko Kindl
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