Animal Obits
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:
Jo-Bars Maggie Mae, 8, died on March 10, 2004. A black
Labrador retriever purchased by Joe Maringo of Plum, Pennsylvania,
as a breeding bitch and duck dog, Maggie hated to swim, but raised
four litters in five years before Maringo found out about pet
ovrpopulation and had her spayed within a week. Maringo went on to
found the Southwest Pennsylvania Retriever Rescue Organization. “It
was Maggy’s love that has caused me to save over 250 unwanted
companions and place them in happy homes,” Maringo wrote. “I hope I
can live up to being just half the man she thought I was.”
Beethoven, 2, & Cujo, 1, father-and-son St. Bernards kept
by Walter Smith and his daughter Elizabeth, were on June 16
euthanized by Macomb County Animal Control under the rarely invoked
1919 Michigan livestock protection act. The dogs killed two llamas,
a sheep, a pig, and a 600-pound steer, and raided a henhouse, in a
series of attacks ranging over miles of countryside between October
2003 and April 2004, before a county roadkill collector saw them
returning home from one of their raids.
Otis, a black Labrador retriever, on June 20 became the
seventh dog to die among 26 poisoned by a serial killer near Jackson
Hole, Wyoming. Investigators believe the killer is either trying to
kill wolves or trying to make hikers keep their dogs leashed.
Yellowstone National Park wolf 293-F was found dead 30 miles
west of Denver on June 7, an apparent roadkill, 490 miles from the
last signal from her radio collar, which put her near Mammoth Hot
Springs on the northwest side of the park on January 15. 293-F was
the first wild wolf documented in Colorado in more than 70 years.
Max, 33, a silverback gorilla, died in his sleep on May 4
at the Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa. On July 18, 1967, nearby
homeowner Aubrey Dickman caught burglar Isaac Mofokeng in the act and
called police. With three police officers in hot pursuit, Mofokeng
tried to make his escape through the zoo. Cornered, he shot Max
twice in the neck and chest with a .38 pistol and tried to hide in
Max’s night room. Max, defending mate Lisa, who was behind him,
bit Mofokeng and two of the three police officers when they tried to
rescue Mofokeng. Lisa was reportedly in deep mourning for Max, who
except for that one occasion was known for his gentle nature.
Kubi, 29, the San Francisco Zoo silverback gorilla, died
on May 18, 11 days after veterinarians tried to save his life by
removing his diseased right lung. Kubi was younger brother of Koko,
the signing, kitten-keeping, and computer-using gorilla kept by the
Gorilla Foundation. Bwang, Kubi’s mate of 22 years, tried
repeatedly to revive him with gifts of fruit.
Caesar, 26, a silverback gorilla loaned to Zoo Atlanta by
the Los Angeles Zoo in August 2003, died suddenly on May 3 from a
severe bowel inflamation. Senior Zoo Atlanta veterinarian Rita
MacManamon, and fellow vet Marla Crane unsuccessfully attempted
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and artificial respiration for 20 to
30 minutes.
M’Kubwa, 51, the oldest silverback gorilla in the U.S.,
also believed to be the only Eastern Lowland gorilla in the U.S.,
was euthanized on May 17 at the Houston Zoo due to multiple
debilitating and painful conditions of age. M’Kubwa was captured
near Tulakwa, northwest of Bakaua, Congo, in 1953. He lived at
the Oklahoma City Zoo with two females until they both died in 1985,
then was transferred to the Houston Zoo.
Lily, 18, a polar bear resident of the Central Park Zoo in
New York City since arriving from Germany in 1989, was euthanized on
June 10 due to liver cancer.
Ginny, 50, San Antonio Zoo matriarch elephant, was
euthanized on May 2 due to conditions associated with prolonged
standing on concrete. The San Francisco Zoo board of supervisors
urged on May 6 that elephants Tinkerbelle and Lulu, each 38,
suffering from similar problems, be transferred to a sanctuary yet
to be chosen as soon as possible. Detroit Zoo director Ron Kagan
announced on May 19 that elephants Winky, 51, and Wanda, 40-plus,
likewise afflicted, will also soon be retired to a sanctuary.
