Animal Obituaries
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2003:
Bo, formerly Worthless, who inspired his person Tammy
Sneath Grimes to found the anti-chaining organization Dogs Deserve
Better, was euthanized on April 25 “due to heart failure with
possible tumor complications,” Grimes said.
Brutus, 24, a black bear, was euthanized on May 28 at the
Folsom city Zoo Sanctuary due to conditions of age, a year after the
death of his twin sister Ursula. Brutus and Ursula for many years
were the last animals left at the defunct and often flooded Royer
Park Zoo in Roseville. Discovering them caged and alone,
then-16-year-old Justin Barker raised the first $25,000 of the sum
needed to move them to the Folsom Zoo, where they enjoyed a markedly
better quality of life.
Ryan, 27, who arrived at the Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi,
California, as an orphaned cub in 1976 and became the star of the
zoo, was euthanized on June 4 due to incurably painful conditions of
age.
Dick, 17, a goldfish whose terminal illness attracted
concerned correspondence from as far away as Japan, died on May 13
at the Spy Port Restaurant in Albany, New York. That Dick
survived at all, let alone for 17 years, was something of a
surprise to his caretaker, Mary Ann Parker, since he arrived frozen
into a block of ice one December day apparently as someone’s idea of
a cruel joke.
Goya, a mine-detecting German shepherd who had served the
U.S. military in six nations, was killed on May 1 at Bagram Air Base
when he detected a mine that went off before anyone could defuse it.
Yui, an Indian monitor lizard believed by Jamlong Taengnian,
53, of Bangkok, Thailand, to be the reincarnation of her dead son
Charoen, died on April 12. After Charoen was killed in a road
accident, Jamlong found the monitor lizard in her home, spoke to
him as if he was her son, and thought he seemed to understand. Her
daughter, Sompong, told The Nation that shortly before Yui died,
she had a dream in which Charoen came to her to say goodbye.
Badri, 13, a female tiger at the Mysore Zoo in India, was
killed by an eight-year-old male tiger named Madhukeshwara on May 1
after keeper R. Govinda reportedly left the door between their cages
open while feeding Badri. Govinda was suspended for apparent
negligence. On May 25 the Mysore Zoo also lost a 14-year-old black
panther named Julie, due to bronchial pneumonia that resisted
treatment.
Rosey, 18, a Cleveland Metroparks Zoo lioness, was killed
overnight on May 5 by either Chloe or Moufasa, a pair of
five-year-old lions who arrived together in 1988. “They clashed with
Rosey from their first meeting,” wrote Angela Townsend of the Plain
Dealer.
Lahorini, 4, a one-horned rhino resident at the Guwahati
Zoo in India, died suddenly and mysteriously on May 14. She came to
the zoo in 1998, after rangers rescued her from a flood that
inundated her birthplace deep within Kaziranga National Park.
Amon Ra, 17, the only male African lion at the Milwaukee
County Zoo, was euthanized on April 11 due to acute kidney failure.
Cora, 24, a female gorilla believed to have been in the
prime of her life, died from a sudden stroke on June 5 at the
Detroit Zoo. Zoo veterinarian Ann Duncan told Detroit Free Press
staff write Bill Laitner that the probably cause of the stroke was a
bacteriological infection of the lungs and brain. Cora was believed
to be the first third-generation gorillaborn in cptivity.
Preya, 3, an Asian elephant, died on April 12 at the
Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, a victim of the elephant
endothliotropic herpe virus. The virus has killed 29 of the 32
captive elephants known to have been infected by it.
Amali, three, the first African elephant conceived by
artificial insemination, died unexpectedly on June 3 at the
Indianapolis zoo.
Alpha Female 592, a four-year-old Mexican grey wolf, in
late May became the first of her species to be shot for repeatedly
molesting livestock. Rafter Spear Ranch owner Laura Schoneberger
said AF-592 and her mate killed three calves and wounded two.
