At the age of nearly 52 the oldest male orangutan in Europe, living in Apenheul, passed away this morning :-(
Translation of the message on apenheul.nl
"King Karl" died this morning. The orangutan man Karl suffered many old age diseases the last couple years. The last weeks his health got even worse. It was difficult for him to climb, even though there had been quite some adjustments for him in the enclosure.
He spend his time most of the time with two calm females and a little baby. Those last couple days the most daily movement, necessary for getting food and reaching his place to sleep, was too much for him. That's why we decided to put him to sleep. Karl was almost 52 years old and thereby was the oldest living Borneo orangutan in Europe.
There's more in the news article on the site, but it's a bit too much to translate everything. One of those things is that the zoo keepers mourn the loss. And I know for a fact many others do too!
Only 2 days ago I said to another zoo lover "Only a few more days before Apenheul opens again. We'll get to see Karl again then". (For the ones not knowing Apenheul: they're closed from November till end March.)
Translation of the message on apenheul.nl
"King Karl" died this morning. The orangutan man Karl suffered many old age diseases the last couple years. The last weeks his health got even worse. It was difficult for him to climb, even though there had been quite some adjustments for him in the enclosure.
He spend his time most of the time with two calm females and a little baby. Those last couple days the most daily movement, necessary for getting food and reaching his place to sleep, was too much for him. That's why we decided to put him to sleep. Karl was almost 52 years old and thereby was the oldest living Borneo orangutan in Europe.
There's more in the news article on the site, but it's a bit too much to translate everything. One of those things is that the zoo keepers mourn the loss. And I know for a fact many others do too!
Only 2 days ago I said to another zoo lover "Only a few more days before Apenheul opens again. We'll get to see Karl again then". (For the ones not knowing Apenheul: they're closed from November till end March.)
