Zoo keepers and zoo goers mourn the loss of Kambula, one of the oldest and most well-known Western Lowland gorillas at the Fort Worth Zoo. Photos by Bob Chochola
FORT WORTH, Texas — One of the Fort Worth Zoo's three Western lowland gorillas has died.
Thirty-two-year-old Kambula (cam-BOO-lah) was euthanized Thursday [February 26th, 2009] because his health rapidly declined in recent weeks, the zoo announced Friday.
Kambula was recently diagnosed with abdominal abscesses and heart disease. The abscesses had been removed, but Kambula's heart continued to fail, zoo officials said.
Kambula was the zoo's second oldest male gorilla and had been in Fort Worth since 1992, Zoo officials say most captive apes don't live far beyond age 30. The Fort Worth Zoo is home to a large population of aging primates, including three orangutans, two gorillas, two chimpanzees and one bonobo who are all over the age of 30.
Photos by Bob Chochola
WANNA MAKE SOMETHIN' OF IT? Make no mistake about it, very few creatures on this Earth are tough enough to tangle with this guy.
As a kid growing up in Chicago I got to know two of these incredible beasts - Bushman and his eventual successor, Sinbad. Bushman and Sinbad held the title for largest Western Lowland Gorilla in captivity in their respective eras. They were very large and very ominous animals and seemed to always know how to entertain an audience.
My favorite Sinbad story came a few years before his death. The new ape house was already in the planning stages back then, but the big question was, "What to do with Sinbad?" Many experts felt Sinbad was too old (and ornery) to be moved, so they had decided to build the new house on a new site close by and leave Sinbad right where he was.
Anchoring the old building, Sinbad's cage (and it was strictly a cage back then) was twice the next biggest cage and three times (or more) the next size after that. It was about thirty feet by thirty feet. Not only that, but all the rest of the cages had bars OR glass with about a five-foot "no enter zone" marked-off by a steel railing. Sinbad's bars and TEN-foot safety zone were separated from the public by very thick shatter-proof glass.
One day I happened into the old ape house and saw a crowd of about fifty people around Sinbad's glass patrician. I worked my way up and saw a trainer with a local news crew inside between the glass and the bars - Sinbad was thirty-feet away, lying on the floor, sleeping, and with his back to us all no less.
He was snubbing the reporter, photographer, trainer, and onlookers deliberately, because I knew Sinbad and he was pretty active most days. With a crowd he would really ham-it-up. Maybe I should refer to the crowd as "fans" from now on?
After about twenty minutes, the trainer got anxious for activity and began to bang on the bars and make noise. Still nothing from the large Gorilla. The camera got closer and closer until finally the lens was peeking in between the bars.
Suddenly, as fast as a cat, the giant sleeping ape jumped to his feet and with lightning speed was at the bars in a skipped heart beat. He lunged at the crew and his adoring fans and everyone - trainer, news crew, and fifty fans - lunged backwards and gasped.
Sinbad slammed the bars with his enormous fists, the thunder of it could be heard echoing in the large hall. Then after we all about had heart attacks, Sinbad returned to the back of the cage and laid himself down - once again with his back to the crowd.
Western Lowland Gorilla pictured on this page is Kambula, a resident of the Ft. Worth Zoo.
