"In the spirit of animal welfare": gorilla baby put to sleep in Munich zoo

A gorilla baby in Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo was not accepted by its group, its health was poor - the little monkey was put to sleep.

The offspring at the zoo is always something very special - regardless of whether it's baby porcupines, baby anteaters or red ruffed lemur babies, because especially the little ones warm the hearts of visitors.

In the Tierpark Hellabrunn, the keepers found - completely surprisingly - a gorilla baby in the enclosure on New Year's Eve.

Unfortunately, neither the mother nor the group accepted the baby.

Because of poor health, it was decided to put the monkey boy to sleep.

"In the interests of animal welfare": baby gorilla in Munich zoo is put to sleep

As the zoo reports, the female cub was born at night and suffered from severe hypothermia.

After an initial veterinary examination, the mother, 35-year-old Neema, was reunited with the newborn.

"Prior signs of pregnancy had not been observed in Neema, but this is not uncommon in gorillas due to the always prominent abdomen associated with their plant-based diet, such as leaves," explains Dr.

Christine Gohl, senior veterinarian in Hellabrunn.

However, the gorilla lady showed no interest in her baby.

According to the zoo, this may have been due to the "little state" of the young animal.

Baby gorilla in Munich zoo is euthanized – Commission decides to “redeem young animal”

Due to the poor state of health, the zoo convened a commission made up of keepers, veterinarians, curators, the management, representatives of the responsible veterinary authority and experts from the European Conservation Breeding Program for gorillas.

After deliberation, the decision was made unanimously to "redeem the young animal".

The keeping of monkeys in zoos is generally criticized by animal protection organizations such as Peta.

“The complete disinterest of the entire Hellabrunn gorilla group in the newborn was striking.

We know from nature that wild animals recognize very early on whether their offspring are healthy and whether rearing them has a chance of success,” explains Carsten Zehrer, zoological director of the zoo.

"This behavior, which is harsh from a human point of view, saves important energy resources for the mother animal in the wild, which would be used up if rearing was unsuccessful."   

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Gorilla baby in Munich zoo is put to sleep – “serious previous illnesses”

The pathological examination of the baby monkey revealed "serious previous illnesses".

Among other things, the newborn has a bleeding in the head and an advanced navel infection.

This result confirmed "the decision made in terms of animal welfare," the zoo said.

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