TAMPA, Fla. — Busch Gardens workers are mourning the loss of a 4-year-old male orangutan.
In a Facebook publish, the theme park mentioned Malu’s well being started to say no earlier in July, and regardless of ongoing therapy, he was euthanized on Tuesday.
“Despite every effort to save his life, he reached the point where the only compassionate thing for our dedicated veterinary and animal care team to do was to humanely euthanize Malu today while surrounded by the people who had loved and cared for him since his birth at Busch Gardens in 2017,” the publish mentioned.
Malu was described as a beloved member of the theme park’s zoo household. The publish mentioned the staff caring for him shaped a really particular bond after watching him develop from a new child right into a playful juvenile.
Busch Gardens mentioned his passing at such a younger age is “especially heartbreaking.”
According to the Orangutan Conservancy, an orangutan’s lifespan is 35-40 years within the wild, and generally, in captivity, they’ll stay into their late 50s.