Sudden death of rare gorilla at Paignton Zoo (From This is The West Country)

Sudden death of rare gorilla at Paignton Zoo

9:38am Friday 14th August 2009 in Devon

A RARE gorilla has died at Paignton Zoo while being treated for a suspected bacterial infection.

Five-year-old gorilla Kiri died at the ape centre at the zoo on Tuesday evening.

The zoo keeps a bachelor group of gorillas as part of a European breeding programme.

A zoo spokesman said that Kiri had been ill for a few weeks with a suspected bacterial infection and had seemed to be responding well to treatment, before taking a "sudden turn for the worse". Kiri came to Paignton Zoo last year from Stuttgart Zoo in Germany.