The Toronto Zoo says Charles, a 52-year-old Western lowland gorilla, has been responding well to treatment after experiencing heart issues over the weekend.
On Sunday, the zoo said the gorilla was showing health symptoms for the last 48 hours. As a result, the zoo prescribed him medications and its veterinary team adjusted his treatment plan. During this time, Charles will not be visible to guests as the Wildlife Health and Wildlife Care team continues to monitor him.
In an update on Tuesday, the zoo assured that Charles is thriving under treatment and staff are seeing “slow steady improvements.” They also expressed gratitude for those showing their support and compassion for the geriatric gorilla.
“Charles holds a very special place in the Zoo family and the hearts of our community, and seeing your messages of how deeply he has touched your lives has meant the world to us,” they said in a post on X.
Currently, the wildlife team is making him comfortable as he begins to eat normally and resume his day-to-day interactions.
In a video taken on Monday, Charles is seen with his daughter Johari who has been by his side since the weekend.
The zoo says gorillas are a social species and it is beneficial to their well-being to have companionship. Charles is currently getting treatment in an area of the African Rainforest not accessible to guests.
Charles arrived at the Toronto Zoo more than 50 years ago and is one of the zoo’s first occupants. According to the facility, Western lowland gorillas typically live between 30 and 40 years of age in the wild because they are a critically endangered species.
Today, the population of Western lowland gorillas is declining at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent mostly due to poaching for bushmeat, disease, habitat loss and degradation, according to the zoo. For these reasons, numbers have declined by more than 60 per cent over the last 20 to 25 years.
Online, some fans of Charles say the gorilla is among their favourites when visiting the zoo.
“This is distressing news for me. Charles is the highlight of our zoo experience for the last 40 years that we’ve been going. We are feeling blessed and so lucky to see him and his 2 sons last Wednesday,” one Facebook user said.
“…Charles was ALWAYS my first stop at the zoo. He’s my first memory of becoming fascinated with primates. When I was in high school I used to skip off and go spend the day at the Zoo instead of class and I used to sit outside his enclosure, leaning against the glass, and write. After about 20 minutes, without fail, Charles would make his way over and sit exactly by me and lean on the glass from his side. It would always fill my heart,” another user shared.
“Charles has been my favourite for MANY MANY years! I’m 60 and have been loving the zoo since it opened. Sending strength and love to Charles and EVERYONE at the zoo,” another user commented.
