More deaths at Blackpool
February 2003

A gorilla at Blackpool Zoo.

On 7th January another Great Ape was found dead at Blackpool Zoo - the fourth to die there in less than a year. Kukee, a 30-year old female Western Lowland Gorilla was found dead in her enclosure. Last May a gorilla and 2 orangutans died at the zoo with a 72-hour period.

On hearing the news CAPS immediately tipped off the media and we have called for an independent public inquiry to investigate all of these deaths. Following the deaths last year we raised concerns that a microbiological link between them should be investigated.

According to signs at the zoo Kukee was taken from the wild in Cameroon in 1972 and sent to the zoo that year (although newspaper reports on her death claim she was three years old when she arrived in 1971).

We have called for the zoo to be closed while investigations take place, and have asked for all documents relating to Kukee's keeping and death to be made available to CAPS.

A sign at Blackpool Zoo showing that Kukee was born in the wild.

Also in January a capybara was found dead in a lake at the Zoo. Capybaras are the largest living rodents, found only in South America. Also known as Water pigs they are neither pigs nor totally aquatic, although they do live near water and can stay under water for up to five minutes.

Blackpool Borough Council, owners of the Zoo, told CAPS that during the cold weather many of the lakes at the Zoo had frozen over, and we have asked them to confirm or deny reports that the capybara may have fallen through ice. The Council claim the cause of death has not yet been determined.

We are continuing to investigate these deaths and updates will appear on our website and in our magazine.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

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Photographs © Captive Animals Protection Society