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[Don Albertson <dalbertson AT pennswoods.net>]

A sad goodbye as sick gorilla is euthanized
By SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


A good diet, the tender car of zookeepers, excellent veterinary care and 
good genes helped M'Kubwa live to be a very old gorilla.

But his health began to fail in the last couple of years. He had 
arthritis, cataracts and organ failure. Even eating became a chore. His 
dedicated keepers held his food close to his mouth so he could take it 
with his lips. There was nothing else medicine could do.

M'Kubwa was dying.

"Everything was pretty much going at the same time," said Houston Zoo 
Director Rick Barongi. "He just reached the level where these organs 
couldn't remain viable. He wasn't moving very much. He was pretty much 
catatonic. This was clearly something he was not going to rebound from."

So the painful decision was made earlier this week to let M'Kubwa go, and 
he was euthanized Thursday. At 51, he had been the oldest male gorilla, 
and perhaps the only Eastern Lowland gorilla, in North America.

M'Kubwa -- "Mac" to his friends -- was surrounded by zoo employees who 
talked with him and rubbed him as he slipped away.

The procedure began around 8 a.m. Mac was given Valium to sedate him and 
anesthesia to put him into a deep sleep. Finally, a solution was given 
that stopped his breathing. The entire procedure lasted about two hours.

"It was like he just slept, slept, slept and died. People came in on 
their off day and they all paid their respects," said Barongi.

M'Kubwa was caught near Tulakwa, northwest of Bakaua, Congo in 1953. He 
lived at the Oklahoma City Zoo with two females until the females died in 
1985. He then moved to the Houston Zoo.

The first time zookeeper Gale Burt saw Mac, she was a youngster awed by 
his presence. She vowed to grow up and care for him. She did, and she was 
saddened by his death Thursday.

"How many people are truly accepted by a silverback as one of his own?" 
she asked. "There have been many times since I met Mac that he has let me 
know that I am a part of him."

Because of his declining health, Mac retired from public viewing earlier 
this year. The zoo plans to build a new exhibit that will include a 
gorilla family.


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• Slide show: Mac's 50th birthday celebration.
Courtesy of KHOU-TV.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2583197#
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