Animal obituaries
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2001:
Animal obituaries
Sunset Sam, 21, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin who painted with acrylics and provided therapy to disabled children, died on December 4 at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, 17 years after he was found beached in Old Tampa Bay and was rescued by a team including Dennis Kellenberger, now the Clearwater Marine Aquarium executive director. Florida dolphin freedom advocate Mary Mosely led an unsuccessful campaign during the late 1980s to return Sunset Sam to
the wild. In response, the aquarium doubled the size of his tank.
Abigail, 41, a Sumatran orangutan noted for using lipstick and nail polish, flirting with male visitors, and blowing them
kisses, died in late December at the Toronto Zoo, her home since 1974 when she arrived from the defunct Riverdale Zoo. Captured from the wild in the early 1960s, Abigail was also fond of sitting down with her keepers for hot coffee. She left six children, including son and daughter Sekali and Dinar, who lived with her.
Bjorne, Bolli, and Bomba, “surplus” bear cubs at the Lycksele Zoo in Sweden, were shot on November 8, stuffed, and their meat sold, despite international protest. That they were bred and exhibited in the first place “demonstrates the irresponsible and ruthless treatment of zoo animals,” said Catharina Krongh of Animal Rights Sweden.
Donna Duck, a favorite of Humane Society of Charlotte founder and longtime duck rescuer Patti Lewis, died on November 5 during surgery to replace her lower bill, lost in an entanglement with fishing line. “I felt she was a gift from God to me for all the critters I have saved,” said Lewis.
M’Chawi, 23, the quiet-natured dominant chimp at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago since July 2001, died of a sudden heart attack on December 3–like both of his parents, Sam, who died at 19, and Shauri Jet, who died at 21.
Roscoe, 15, among the oldest California sea otters on record, died on November 14 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, his home since he was rescued in March 1986 as a stranded infant.
Beethoven, 11, a Great Dane who spent six years on death row in Pinellas County, Florida, for injuring a four-year-old girl in 1995, was euthanized by consent of owner Lorraine Blackwood on September 13. Blackwood, who kept Beethoven alive through a series of legal actions, continues to contest an $11,000 bill for shelter boarding.
