ATLANTA (AP) — A 50-year-old gorilla who became a beloved figure at Zoo Atlanta after spending several decades in a Washington state department store has died, zoo officials said Tuesday.
Ivan, a male western lowland gorilla, never regained consciousness after he was put under general anesthesia Monday for a diagnostic assessment, Zoo Atlanta said. The zoo says the geriatric ape had recently lost weight, seemed to lack an appetite and had a respiratory illness.
“When it became obvious that our efforts to modify his diet and his existing medication regimen were not resulting in significant improvement, it was necessary to perform a diagnostic procedure to determine the underlying causes of Ivan’s condition,” said Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services. “General anesthesia carries a degree of risk in any veterinary procedure, but these risks are compounded in an individual of Ivan’s advanced age and delicate condition. We are heartbroken that this proved the case, and Ivan did not recover from the anesthesia.”
Ivan had lived at Zoo Atlanta since 1994. He was born in the wild around 1962 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wildlife traders sold him to the owners of a department store in Tacoma, Wash., in 1964. Three years later, he was moved to an indoor enclosure at the store. Known as the “Shopping Mall Gorilla,” Ivan had thousands of fans and visitors.