"That week was hard. We were like: 'We just can't catch a break right now,' said Nicki Boyd, curator of mammals, ambassadors and applied behavior at the zoo."
"Getting the call that he was in kidney failure was just a gut punch," Boyd said."
"'His presence in Polar Bear Plunge helped foster bonds with his sister and Chinook, another orphaned female polar bear,' zoo officials said in a statement."
Three longtime San Diego Zoo residents died within days: Kalluk, a 24-year-old male polar bear; Nicky, a 28-year-old Masai giraffe; and Maka, a 30-year-old Western lowland gorilla. Kalluk showed behavioral changes and was found in kidney failure after a medical examination; he had arrived as an orphaned cub in 2001. Nicky and Kalluk were euthanized the same day to minimize suffering as they neared the end of their lives. Maka suffered a sudden cardiac event. The animals served as public ambassadors, attracted visitors, and supported conservation projects, and staff described the week as extremely difficult.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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