The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Apesman2727 AT aol.com]

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-chimpdies,0,7648147.story
chicagotribune.com
6 chimpanzees in quarantine after seventh dies
Associated Press
9:29 PM CDT, March 26, 2009
CHICAGO
 
Keepers at the Lincoln Park Zoo had six ailing  chimpanzees in quarantine and 
under close observation Thursday after the  recent death of another chimp 
from a mysterious respiratory illness.  

Kipper, a 9-year-old and the youngest member of a group headed by  a male 
chimp named Hank, died Tuesday in the zoo hospital, where he had  been taken 
a 
day earlier. Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar said Kipper and the  others six 
developed flu-like symptoms last week. 

"We are guessing  it's a virus, but we don't really know exactly what it is," 
Dewar said  Thursday. 

Because the illness appears contagious, the surviving  six chimps were being 
kept in isolation from all other chimps and gorillas  that live in the zoo's 
Regenstein Center for African Apes. The affected  group is the chimp family 
normally on public view at the ape house.  

A necropsy performed on Kipper after he died indicated the cause  of death as 
pneumonia, according to Steve Thompson, the zoo's vice  president of 
conservation programs. 

Great apes like chimpanzees  and gorillas suffer the same types respiratory 
diseases as humans,  Thompson said. 

On Thursday keepers reported the members of Hank's  group showed signs of 
runny noses and listlessness. 

As the  symptoms persisted over the weekend, zoo officers took Hank's group 
off  display and put them in quarantine quarters in the ape house lower 
level.  

After going into isolation with the rest of the group, Kipper, who  suffered 
from a congenital condition that may have decreased the pumping  capacity of 
his lungs, on Monday took a turn for the worse, Thompson said.  





--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~

** Commentary is not allowed on AR-News, however, we have a daily AR-NEWS  
LETTERS email that we send out. If you would like to submit a letter for  
consideration, fire it over to ARNewsLetters AT gmail.com 
** To unsubscribe yourself from this list, send email to  
AR-News-unsubscribe AT googlegroups.com 
** For more options, visit this group at  
http://groups.google.com/group/AR-News or http://www.AR-News.org 
~+~+~+~+~+~+~
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---


 (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeApes/join) APES  Abolish  Primate 
Experiments & Slavery

click here to join 

_http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeApes/_ 
(http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FreeApes/) 
**************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store?  Make dinner for $10 or 
less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)