Woodland Park Zoo staff euthanized T.C., a 14-year-old male patas monkey, following a “sudden and severe decline in health due to congestive heart failure.”
Patas monkeys can live 15 to 20 years in the wild. In zoos, however, patas monkeys can live over 20 years.
“The degree of heart failure was severe and the quality of this monkey’s life was compromised, so we made the humane decision to euthanize him,” explained zoo Interim Director of Animal Health Dr. Kelly Helmick in a press release. It appears to be congestive heart failure, but final findings are pending.
T.C. came to the zoo’s African Savanna exhibit in 2001 from Honolulu Zoo. Two female patas monkeys, Alexa and Fiona, remain in the African Savanna exhibit.
On a related note, Fiona continues to recover from treatment earlier this month to relieve pain caused by kidney stones. The kidney stones were blasted using sound waves (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy) and the resulting small pieces passed through her urinary tract.
