Sad news Thursday night for anyone who has ever visited with Donna the hippo at Mesker Park Zoo. Zoo officials say her health, severe arthritis and renal failure, is rapidly deteriorating.
Mesker Park Zoo Director Amos Morris says 60-year-old Donna the hippo has been housed at the zoo since 1955.
An animal that Morris calls 'a fixture' of the Mesker Park Zoo, Donna is now suffering from severe arthritis and advanced kidney disease.
Morris says they are doing what they can to accommodate this dying animal, by administering pain medication and routinely draining her pool.
"She's unable to climb the steps to get out of the water. So, when we drain the pool, we go ahead and feed her her grain and her hay at that time, give her an opportunity to eat. And then we get the water back in the pool so it takes pressure off the joints," Morris noted.
Zoo Curator Doctor Susan Lindsey says donna hasn't left her indoor living space in two years.
"What you see is where Donna lives. Shortly after I came here, she came indoors from being outdoors and she's never gone back out of that pool," Dr. Lindsey said.
Throughout Donna's decades-long stay, the zoo has thrown a birthday party for her every August.
Morris says this year will be no different, and everyone on the zoo's staff hopes she'll be able to hang on for one last Happy Birthday.
"I don't know how you don't have a connection with the animal, at least emotionally, and work with them or live in a community like this. Again, that's good human nature."
Lindsey says Donna has doubled the average age of captive hippos, and Morris says her birthday celebration will be held August fourth during the zoo's Family Fun Day.
Copyright 2012 WFIE. All rights reserved.
The zoo usually holds a birthday party for Donna at the zoo, but not this year.
