In October, a western lowland gorilla silverback named Djembe (known also as Ivan) passed away at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium after experiencing cardiac arrest during a medical procedure. Djembe was 11 years old, and the zoo described him as “a much-adored member of the Zoo’s troop of gorillas.”
Animal deaths at zoos are not uncommon. Those who had spent time with Djembe — caretakers and other zoo staffers — needed to mourn his death. At the Pittsburgh Zoo, mourning an animal is a process that involves nearly everyone who interacts with them.
Caretakers at the zoo monitor animals daily, checking on medical vital signs and general disposition. If something seems off, such as a swollen paw or a lack of appetite, the keepers will evaluate the animal further — checking its feces for unusual content or performing a routine exam. The zoo has multiple veterinarians on-site to monitor any potential situation.
“We do welfare assessments to notice if a trend is slowly emerging because occasionally you’ll notice, especially as animals get more geriatric, their weight will start to decline and not really come back,” said the zoo’s curator of mammals, Kelsey Forbes. “That’s hard to see in the moment.”
From there, the caretakers and vets will create a care strategy for the animal that might include changing food or adding or adjusting medication. Forbes said the Pittsburgh Zoo is part of a larger network of similar facilities that regularly communicate about issues they might be having with specific species.
“We have forums and phone numbers, and I can be like, ‘Hey, I have this thing.’ And we get responses back across the board,” Forbes said. “It’s the best community ever.”
Should the medical staff eventually determine that an animal is close to the end of its life, Forbes said the zoo staff is notified and given information about the circumstances.
“I'm a big believer in having everybody in the room for these conversations as they're happening,” said Forbes. “Everybody's voice is valid.”
What to do next for the animal is a collaborative process, involving perspectives from caretakers and veterinarians.
“But at one point there is this, you know, [a conversation about] if the animal is suffering just because we have an attachment to them, which is the hardest part,” she said.
Forbes likened end-of-life care to human hospice care, which is a process for people who are dying (and their friends and family) to provide comfort before death. Technology, including group chats among staffers, has been a big part of these conversations. If someone is not working on the weekend when an animal is expected to pass, for example, Forbes said they’ll always check in to see if the person wants to come in for a final goodbye.
“We say, ‘Hey, we can include you or not include you in this chat,” Forbes said. “But the majority of people don’t want that and they just want to know everything.”
In Djembe’s situation, Forbes said it was fairly clear early on that he wasn’t going to live for much longer after being put under anesthesia for a medical procedure. The gorilla had a heart attack shortly after being put under, and the care staff had to make a fairly quick decision about his future.
“We were able to bring him back and keep him alive for another eight (or so) hours afterwards,” Forbes said. “We had opinions from our cardiologist … so everybody was very clear in the moment.”
When the animal dies, zoo staff are encouraged to send their memories about the animal’s life and the caretakers’ experiences with them to the zoo communications team. That information often is incorporated into the press release sent to the public and media after the animal’s death.
“We try to put the keepers’ perspective on it because they’re part of the animal’s family, and for some of our staff members, it’s very hard,” Forbes said. “I always open it up to them to be like, ‘If you have any stories that you want to tell, this is what I’m thinking.’”
But human caretakers aren’t the only ones affected by an animal death. Many of these animals live in enclosures shared by the same species, especially in the case of those who traditionally live in packs or have a partner. Recently, a penguin named Sphen died at an aquarium in Sydney, Australia, and his long-time partner, Magic (with whom he had raised a chick named Sphengic and fostered another named Clancy) was allowed to see Sphen's body.
According to a story by NPR’s Bill Chappell in which he cited an interview with the aquarium’s penguin keeper, Magic “immediately started singing. And this was reciprocated by several others in the colony.” A sign and song of mourning.
Similarly, when Kit, a 6-year-old African lion, died in August 2023, Forbes said caretakers brought his body into the communications team building to allow his pride to see him.
“That was the most heartbreaking part,” Forbes said. But the pride showed little interest in viewing or getting near the body. “They were like, ‘Absolutely not. No, not doing it.’ But they needed it because we took this animal away and then we came back because otherwise they would have been looking for him.”
Forbes said the zoo is working on a memorial wall or special place where caretakers can remember the animals they’ve worked with who have passed. But for now, she said whenever an animal dies, the public is encouraged to write in and share their own stories about visiting the animals, or even send in a drawing.
