Geriatric animals pose challenges at St. Louis Zoo

ST. LOUIS -- Many of today's zoo animals reach a ripe old age compared with their companions in the wild. While that's a point of pride for zoo keepers, it's also a challenge.

The St. Louis Zoo has more older animals on its hands than in the past. That's good news for the animals -- such as the aged chimps, bears and lemurs -- but it also means they suffer many of the same health problems of human senior citizens, from achy joints to failing livers.

Treating the exotic animals can be tough. After all, lions and otters can't exactly tell their doctor what's ailing them.

Zoo officials are trying different treatment regimens for their oldest residents, including exercise programs and medication.

"The geriatric problems at zoos are just like the ones we see in our pets and in our families," said Jack Grisham, the zoo's director of animal collections. "As we get older, it's harder to exercise. Same for them, so we'll put food higher so they have to climb to get it."

Zoo officials say it's tough to know exactly how much longer their animals are living now than in the past. The zoo has not kept precise records on animal life spans, but veteran curators said it's clear their charges are outliving their ancestors.

"That curve keeps moving," said mammal curator Steve Bircher.

Among the zoo's senior citizens are a lemur with a bad liver, a Cotswold sheep with cataracts and three arthritic black bears.

Ruffles, a black-and-white lemur, is an old-timer for his species at the age of 30. But it's no picnic being old. Ruffles takes an anti-inflammatory drug for his arthritic legs and SAM-e for his liver. He's missing some teeth, so his keepers feed him cooked vegetables and small bites of apple.

Communication can be a challenge for zoo personnel who are in charge of treating the animals, which often mask their disabilities because, in the wild, the sick often are killed or bullied.

There's also the issue of size. Zookeepers have to figure out delicate ways to coax a 500-pound black bear into taking a daily dose of joint lubricant.

But even the best treatment doesn't mean animals can live forever. Just last month, Betsy the rhinoceros died of old age at 31.

Betsy was the third-oldest female eastern black rhino in North America. Her mate, Toto, is 32 and is the oldest living male. He still enjoys relatively good health.

Zookeepers don't usually do intensive procedures to keep old and ailing animals alive.

"We have limited access to these animals," said animal health chief Randy Junge. "It's not like I can go into a bear den and take the bear's leg and manipulate it and give him an injection. If we have an animal near the end of its normal life span, we are not going to opt for an intensive treatment that requires a lot of management."

That doesn't mean it's easy for zookeepers to let go of the animals they get to know quite well over the years.

"There's no training for that," said primate keeper Kelli Niebrugge. "You know it's the best thing for the animal, but it's still hard to say goodbye and we always say goodbye."

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com