Gainesville Sun Shows Sensitivity Covering Dulu's Sad Story
July 18, 2013
Dulu, a nearly 3-year-old gibbon at Santa Fe zoo, dies in accident
By Erin Jester, Gainesville Sun Staff Writer
Friday, July 12
The Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo had an unexpected tragedy this week.
Keepers found Dulu, a female white-handed gibbon who was not quite 3 years old, unresponsive in her off-time enclosure Wednesday morning. She had become entangled in a rope swing that had been a part of the enclosure for five or six years, said zoo director Jonathan Miot.
Zoo staff members rushed her to the veterinary school at the University of Florida, performing CPR in the van on the way, but she couldn't be revived.
"She was the first gibbon to be born here at the teaching zoo, so we were pretty excited about that," Miot said. "It's always sad, but this is exceptionally sad."
Dulu was part of a family of white-handed gibbons at the zoo: parents Eddie and Cajun, and Rainer, an infant who was born in October.
Miot said so far, keepers haven't noticed the rest of Dulu's family exhibiting any abnormal behavior, which he said is a good thing.
Like humans, the gibbons could experience depression from the loss of Dulu, Miot said.
