news-record.com

ASHEBORO — Hope, a female gorilla at the N.C. Zoo, was euthanized Thursday due to a variety of severe medical problems.

Hope, 35, had become famous as the mother of Kwanza, the first and still the only gorilla ever born at the N.C. Zoo. The March 1989 gorilla birth made Kwanza, as well as parents Hope and Carlos, household names in the state and generated national media coverage.

The baby gorilla was credited for increasing zoo attendance by nearly 100,000 visitors during his first year on exhibit. Kwanza now resides at the Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. Carlos passed away years ago after being transferred to Zoo Atlanta.

Hope arrived at the N.C. Zoo in May 1984 after the National Institutes of Health discontinued a gorilla behavioral research program in Louisiana. In recent years she had been under treatment for a variety of medical problems, including two surgical procedures for abdominal abscesses, high blood pressure and loss of vision.

In recent days the female gorilla had become almost completely blind and appeared to be suffering from severe headaches, according to Chief Veterinarian Dr. Mike Loomis. During a examination by an ophthalmologist on Thursday, it was determined that the animal also suffered from detached retinas in both eyes and that her sight would not return. Other serious medical conditions were also discovered.

“Speaking for all the veterinarians, zookeepers and curators who cared for Hope, it was the toughest decision all of us have ever made as zoo professionals,” Ken Reininger, general curator at the zoo, stated in a news release.

Three other gorillas, male Nikunda and females Donna and Katie, remain in good condition and on exhibit daily in the zoo’s Forest Glade gorilla habitat.