NEWS - TIMMY THE GORILLA DIES AT 52 IN LOUISVILLE ZOO

Timmy the gorilla dies at 52 in Louisville Zoo

The Louisville Zoo has lost an iconic figure Tuesday morning when Timmy, a 52-year-old Silverback gorilla, was euthanized because of multiple health issues.Timmy was born in 1959 in Cameroon in west central Africa and was brought to the Memphis Zoo in 1960. Zoo officials described him as “easy-going” and said Timmy's health steadily deteriorated over the past few years with chronic medical problems such as heart disease, heart arrhythmia, and chronic osteoarthritis.
The average life span for a captive silverback is the mid-40s, said zoo spokeswoman Kyle Shepherd.

“He was an ambassador for his species,” Shepherd said. “It's a loss to the zoo world in general, and certainly to the local zoo.”Timmy was transferred from Memphis to the Cleveland Zoo in 1966. He then went to the Bronx Zoo in 1991 as part of the Association of Zoo and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan. Because he was born in the wild, Timmy had genes that were unrepresented in the captive population and provided stronger diversity to future generations of gorillas.
Shepherd said Timmy sired 13 offspring.
Steve Wing, general curator at the zoo, said Timmy witnessed a transformation in how captive animals were kept and treated during his long life. He was the oldest male western lowland gorilla in North America.
Timmy was brought to the Louisville Zoo in 2004 for the opening of its Gorilla Forest exhibit.
“Society has changed, and zoos changed right along with it,” Wing said. “Gorillas used to be kept in exhibits with concrete. Now we have … exhibits full of mulch for them to live on, natural wood and ropes.
“It's been decades since we've taken gorillas from the wild in Africa.”
The zoo has 10 gorillas left. Timmy was in a group of six females that was reduced to three a few years ago. Two of those females were removed over the last few months because of Timmy's medical problems, but he remained with his long-time companion, Paki, to the end.
“It's a lot of work to be a silverback,” Wing said. “But he managed his troupe well just with his presence. He and Paki had been together a long time.”