Donna, a 42-year-old gorilla, was euthanized at the N.C. Zoo after a cancer relapse. She had been at the zoo since 1990. N.C. ZOO
Donna, a gorilla at the N.C. Zoo who had been battling cancer for 21/2 years, was euthanized Monday after a relapse. She was 42.
The effort to save Donna included a full hysterectomy performed in August 2008 by three women's health specialists from the Triangle: an oncologist at Duke University Medical Center and two doctors from the N.C. Center for Reproductive Medicine in Cary.
But cancerous tumors reappeared in Donna's abdomen and grew in recent months, said Mike Loomis, the zoo's chief veterinarian. Zoo veterinarians and staff determined Monday that the cancer was not treatable and that Donna's condition would only worsen.
Donna, a Western Lowland gorilla, was born in 1968 and came to North Carolina from a zoo in St. Paul, Minn., in 1990. According to the National Zoological Park in Washington, gorillas live to about 35 years old in the wild and up to 54 in zoos.
Another female gorilla at the zoo, Katie, 36, also is being treated for an abdominal tumor. Her treatment has included radiation therapy at the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Loomis described her prognosis as "guarded."
Meanwhile, Nikosi, the zoo's 18-year-old male gorilla, remains on exhibit and in good health. Zoo officials say two young female gorillas are scheduled to arrive during the first half of 2010 from the San Diego Zoo and Oklahoma City Zoo.
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