The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has prompted some conservation experts to push for change.
The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has prompted some conservation experts to push for change. The zoo said on Tuesday that Eyara, a female western lowland gorilla, had been injured while moving between back-of-house spaces.
The zoo declined to share any further details about the gorilla's fatal injuries or what caused them, saying an investigation is underway and a necropsy will be completed. The lack of details shared by the zoo isn’t sitting well with Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "This lack of transparency is really disturbing," he said. "I mean there’s no information made available to the public that was useful, so it’s frustrating." Bekoff says the Calgary Zoo should potentially undergo a systemic review to make sure that those in charge of the animals at the facility are doing their jobs properly. He says he believes all zoo workers have good intentions, and that they’re doing everything they can to keep animals safe, but that some incidents can be prevented with more proactive measures in place. "I've been on review boards for other zoos when there's been an unusual number of deaths, and sometimes it comes down to some bad food, when there was rat poisoning around and the animals got to it," Bekoff added. "Maybe there was a pre-existing condition they didn’t know about, other times it was inadequate veterinary care, and it's not necessarily because the people at the zoo don't care, but trying to keep a gorilla in captivity – which is about as unnatural a place for a gorilla to be – it would be tragic no matter who the animals were.” In 2010, the Calgary Zoo underwent a review from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums following several animal death incidents that took place between 2005 to 2010. "That review found that, over a five-year period, there was a tripling of deaths and unusual deaths in animals," said Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoo Check. "They found a whole range of systemic problems, things that were beyond the control of the animals themselves, so training of staff was identified as an issue… communications, exhibit design, such as in the case of bat colonies – they had that were behind piano wire, which wasn't suitable, resulting in a lot of deaths." Laidlaw notes that the review in particular identified several issues, but sadly several animal deaths continued into the next decade, including:In October 2011, a zookeeper resigned following the death of a corn snake, as the keeper had left it unattended near a heat source;"I’m not suggesting that people at the Calgary Zoo don’t have the best interests of animals in their hearts and minds, but the fact is that these things are happening and they’re not good animals," said Laidlaw. 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