Poor Banga. The youngest of Zoo Atlanta’s five elderly gorillas, was being treated for arthritis, but died yesterday of respiratory and heart failure.

Dennis Kelly, the zoo’s president and ceo, says that Banga, who suffered from arthritis, was undergoing treatment for her lameness. She did not regain consciousness from anesthesia and was pronounced dead shortly before noon.

Until Banga’s death, the zoo had five western lowland gorillas ranging in age from 42 to 48, old age for a gorilla. Like elderly humans, the gorillas suffer from a variety of ailments and sometimes take the same medication, like Celebrex for arthritis.

“We will all miss her here at Zoo Atlanta,” says Kelly

Perhaps Banga would still be with us if the new Celebrex ad ran just a little sooner?

Source: UPI.
[tags]Celebrex, Gorilla, Pfizer[/tags]