Gorilla given pacemaker, defibrillator is euthanized

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Babec, the Birmingham Zoo gorilla who became famous when he received a pacemaker and defibrillator in 2004, was euthanized Friday, zoo officials said.

The 28-year-old lowland gorilla, who was featured in a story in The Seattle Times on Monday about heart disease and zoo gorillas, was diagnosed with heart disease in 2003.

He started clutching his chest and acting lethargic about three weeks ago and was pulled off exhibit about two weeks ago.

"He will be missed," zoo curator Roger Iles said Friday. "He's known nationally."

Iles said the operation to insert the cardiac-resynchronization-therapy, or CRT, device, prolonged Babec's life for 3 ½ years.

Lowland gorillas typically live until their early 30s in the wild, but average higher in zoos, with the record at 54 years.

Iles and zoo Chief Executive Bill Foster said Babec contributed to the understanding of gorillas, which have a history of suffering heart disease in captivity.

"Babec is a pioneer for his species," Iles said. "We've learned so much from his life with us."

Every beat of Babec's heart was monitored and recorded by the machine, and Friday veterinarians began a necropsy, the animal version of autopsy, which is standard for all zoo animals when they die.

The information gathered will be fed into a database scientists around the country are working on to determine why zoo gorillas, especially males in their 20s and 30s, are dying of heart ailments.

Iles said of the work with Babec, "We were on the cutting edge of research with this, but we knew in the back of our minds that we were on borrowed time."