The Chattanooga Zoo euthanized Josie the chimpanzee on Sunday, Dec. 30. Josie came to live at the Chattanooga Zoo from the Fort Worth Zoo in 2001 as part of the Association of Zoo and Aquarium’s Species Survival Plan. She is survived by two female and one male chimpanzee that were part of the same group from Fort Worth.Zoo losses
• Josie the chimpanzee – December 2012• Male cougar – August 2012• Male red panda – February 2012• Male red panda – February 2012• Hank the chimpanzee – January 2011• Tortoise – January 2011• 2 snow leopard cubs – January 2011• Female muntjac – January 2011• 2 marmosets [monkeys] – January 2011• Tortoise – December 2010• Male muntjac [an Asian deer] – December 2010• Gecko – November 2010Source: Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park
Chattanooga zoo officials said Monday that Josie, a 37-year-old female chimpanzee, had been euthanized on Dec. 30 “after weeks of rapid deterioration and weight loss.”
Zoo spokeswoman Marisa Ogles said staff members about two weeks before had noticed Josie had lost weight, then noticed her stumbling.
She said zoo veterinarians examined her but found no problems. When the trouble persisted, zoo workers took her for an examination at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville.
It also could find no cause for Josie’s troubles, Ogles said. But Josie’s condition continued to worsen until “she had lost complete mobility.”