Oregon Zoo euthanizes Inji, perhaps the world’s oldest orangutan

Inji, a 61-year-old female Sumatran orangutan who lived at the Oregon Zoo for more than half a century and was thought to be the oldest orangutan in the world, died Saturday.

Zoo officials said Inji’s health had deteriorated in the past few weeks. She had difficult moving and “rarely left her nest box.” She also wasn’t interested in eating her favorite foods, according to a statement. Staffers said she appeared not to benefit from pain medicine, so veterinary staff “made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize her” on Saturday.

According to zoo officials, Inji is believed to be the world’s oldest orangutan. She was also the oldest animal at the Oregon Zoo.

“We knew she couldn’t live forever, but this really hurts, and I know many visitors are grieving along with us,” Bob Lee, who manages the zoo’s animal areas, said in a statement. “Inji’s ability to connect with people was incredible. She inspired generations.”

Lee said she was “active and inquisitive through her golden years.”

“She seemed to study humans and enjoy watching them, especially children,” he added.

She lived more than two decades past the typical life span for wild orangutans. Inji’s precise birthday is unclear, but she arrived at the zoo Jan. 30, 1961 and was thought to be around one-year-old at the time..

Inji arrived in the United States through the wild animal trade, which was legal in that time.

“We’re thankful that we were able to give Inji a good home, but it’s heartbreaking to think about the circumstances that brought her here,” Asaba Mukobi, the zoo’s senior primate keeper, said in a statement. “Even though the wild animal trade is illegal now, it still exists. It is considered a major threat to orangutans’ survival, along with human encroachment and habitat loss from palm oil plantations. Orangutans are at the brink of extinction — especially in Sumatra, where Inji came from.”

There are thought to be just 15,000 Sumatra orangutans in the wild, with some 55,000 Bornean and fewer than 800 Tapanuli orangutan species remaining.

The Oregon Zoo later this year will open its Primate Forest, an expanded facility funded by the Metro bond package approved by voters in 2008. The zoo plans to honor Inji when that facility is completed.