Binny, India’s only orangutan, has died at Nandankanan Zoological Park in Odisha.
The 41-year-old primate’s death on Wednesday is being attributed to respiratory complications, The Indian Express reported.
She was undergoing treatment for infected wound on her throat since the last two years.
“Binny also had a wound on her pouch that would not heal because she was constantly scratching it,” veterinary assistant surgeon Dr Sarat Sahu, was quoted as saying.
Binny was brought from the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Pune to the zoo in 2003. “Prior to that, we think she was sourced from Singapore,” Express quoted Alok Das, Sanctuary Manager at the zoo, as saying.
A senior official from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) said Binny was already old and every effort was made to cure the infection, “including a teleconference with veterinarians from outside the country.”
Binny was undergoing treatment for an infected wound on her throat since the last two years, according to the Odisha Sun Post.
Veterinary doctors from the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry were treating her under the advice of the orangutan experts from England and Singapore.
Binny was suffering from fever and cold and had trouble breathing and was kept in an enclosure where she slept most of the time due to multiple ailments, according to the Post.
Meanwhile, the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar Friday lost a 17-year-old male Nilgiri langur, brought there in 2017 as part of an animal exchange programme with Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Chennai.