PEORIA, Ill. — Call it some unfortunate monkey business for the Peoria Zoo.
The zoo announced Thursday 33-year-old Philly the mandrill had to be euthanized.
Zoo Director Yvonne Strode said a necropsy is in the works to determine the cause.
“We had been treating her quite some time for diabetes, and we think it might be our treatment just wasn’t working any longer,” she said.
“[Wednesday] we noticed early in the morning, she didn’t want to come over for food, which is very unlike her, but through the day she perked up and ate and took her medicine for us.
“But then [Thursday] morning, she was even worse, and we let a little time go by and decided we needed to help her.”
Strode explained the euthanasia process for a wild animal is similar to that of a domestic pet.
“We were able to sedate her with an injection just like you would with a cat and dog, and then once she was asleep, we went down and gave her the medicine that would stop her heart,” Strode expanded.
The average lifespan of a mandrill is 19.1 years. Strode said there is also another silver lining.
“Anything we learn from the necropsy will help us and anyone else managing mandrills understand [why Philly died],” she said.
“We do a full necropsy on all our animals so we can share that information.”
Philly lived at the Peoria Zoo from February 2009 until her death. She came to Peoria from the Detroit Zoo but was born at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists mandrills as a vulnerable species.
