Maryland Zoo in Baltimore workers are mourning the bird they called 10-63.
Veterinarians called in a specialist to try to correct a congenital spine defect that plagued the 6-month-old male penguin. He had been recovering until Friday, when workers found 10-63 lying in a corner of his enclosure at the zoo?s hospital.
“We are really saddened by his death, but we learned a lot from the surgery and from his after-care,” zoo veterinarian Carol Bradford said.
Zoo staff are awaiting a detailed necropsy, an animal autopsy, from Johns Hopkins University before determining a cause of death, but Bradford said, “preliminary reports indicate he may have had a respiratory condition, possibly due to being hospitalized and the operation.”
The Maryland Zoo has a colony of about 51 African penguins living at Rock Island, one of the zoo?s most popular exhibits. They breed enough young each year to supply other zoos, she said.
For 10-63, the operation five weeks ago was the only option to try to give him a chance to live on with the colony. The penguin was born with a spinal deformity that made it difficult for him to walk.
“It was really a last resort for him,” Bradford said. “Our options were really do the surgery or euthanize him.”
To better diagnose the problem, an MRI was performed in February at the Iams Pet Imaging Center in Vienna, Va.
A few weeks later, Dr. John McDonnell, a neurologist who consults for The Maryland Zoo, performed spinal surgery on the penguin, the first time ever that a penguin had undergone that type of operation.
Zoo officials estimated the surgery cost $2,000, not counting the MRI, but all costs were donated.
“We knew there were no guarantees the surgery would be successful, but we felt it was important to give the penguin every possible chance to lead a healthy life,” Karl Kranz, the zoo?s general curator and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “We?re saddened by his death, but our veterinary staff did all they could. We go to great lengths to care for all our animals, whether it?s a penguin, an elephant, a snake or a giraffe.”
African Penguin Facts
» Status: Threatened species
» Diet: Fish, cephalopods, crustaceans
» Lifespan: 15 to 20 years in captivity
» Height: 24 to 18 inches
» Weight: 8 to 9 lbs.
? Source: www.marylandzoo.org
