Google – AFP, October 10, 2013
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| An orangutan soaks in an artificial river at the Surabaya zoo in Surabaya on October 10, 2013. (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto) |
Surabaya.
An endangered Borneo orangutan died Thursday at Indonesia’s “death zoo,” the
latest in a series of suspicious animal deaths that have prompted calls to
close the notorious facility.
Fifteen-year-old
Betty the orangutan had difficulty breathing before she died, Surabaya Zoo
spokesman Agus Supangkat said, adding she had just undergone a week of
intensive treatment.
“Based on
her medical records, she was suffering from inflammation of the lung,” he said.
Supangkat
said the inflammation was caused by “extreme hot weather that has hit Surabaya
city.”
The ape’s
death comes two weeks after a 12-year-old Borneo orangutan named Nanik died
from an intestinal tumor and liver problems. Orangutans typically live between
50 and 60 years.
Supangkat
denied any negligence by the zoo, saying the orangutans lived in a leafy
outdoor enclosure and were given healthy diets of fruit, milk and
multivitamins.
The
Surabaya Zoo is Indonesia’s largest and has been dubbed a “death zoo” as
hundreds of animals have died prematurely or suffered abuse there in recent
years.
In July
last year a 15-year-old endangered orangutan at the zoo named Tori was forced
to quit smoking. Management had allowed visitors to throw lit cigarettes at her
for 10 years, making the smoking orangutan the zoo’s star attraction.
Also last
year a 30-year-old male giraffe died at the zoo with a 20-kilogram
beachball-size lump of plastic in its stomach from food wrappers thrown into
its pen by visitors.
Animal
welfare groups have called for the zoo to be closed down, with British singer
and animal rights activist Morrissey joining the chorus of criticism last year.
There are
an estimated 45,000 to 69,000 Borneo orangutans left in the wild. They are
native to the vast island of Borneo, shared among Indonesia, Malaysia and
Brunei.
Agence France-Presse
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