ZSL London Zoo bobby the gorilla is dead.

Are there any available males of breeding age from Paignton or Chessington that could possibly go to London?

There is one at Paignton- Kumbuka who is actually Zaire's grandson. There are plenty of males available really, choosing the right one for them (both to fit in socially and genetically) is what will cause any delay in a replacement.
 
Are there any available males of breeding age from Paignton or Chessington that could possibly go to London?

Mjuku at London is from chessington, so any male offspring would be related to her, ruling that out.

I'm sure the studbook is all ready on to it and something will be sorted soon :)
 
When did Jomie die? Did that sour the relationship between the two organisations?

Jomie died in 2001. As I believe he was owned by London rather than Howletts there wouldn't have been an issue over him and PL were probably happy to be rid of a male who wasn't their own. If anything London might have blamed PL for allowing him to contract Hepatitis B(presumably from the Colobus he killed at Port Lympne). He was only at London for about two years before he died.

In either Molly Dineen's 'the Ark' or another later ZSL programme(the Zoo?) you can see Jomie's arrival at ZSL. Only later after routine testing was the Hepatitis identified and in another episode you see them knocking down the two female Gorillas(Zaire & Diana) as they were given a whole course of injections to protect them and the keepers didn't like the risks involved. Of course Jomie then died anyway which was unfortunate as he was a normal(mother-raised) male which grew up in a Howletts group and probably would have bred.

I think in Bobby/Bongo's case, they may well have had to exchange him for a new male if no breeding occurred in say, another year, so perhaps his premature death has just precipitated this.
 
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