Gorilla Charles, original Toronto Zoo resident, dies at 52

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Charles, the Western lowland silverback gorilla that has been at the Toronto Zoo since it opened in 1974, has died.

On Wednesday, days after the zoo announced the 52-year-old “icon” was experiencing significant health issues, officials said Charles had died late Tuesday afternoon “of natural causes after experiencing significant health issues.”

“I’m so proud of the work our team did to keep him comfortable in his final days with us,” CEO Dolf DeJong said in a statement. “After some initial signs of improvement yesterday morning, Charles’ condition took a sudden turn late in the day and he passed away surrounded by those who cared for him deeply.

“Charles was more than an icon, he was a member of our zoo family and a powerful ambassador for his species, and our flags will fly at half-mast to commemorate his life.”

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Charles was an orphan when he came to the zoo from Gabon, Africa. He sired 11 offspring and was a grandfather to six, and the zoo noted that even in his later years, “he continued to be vigilant about protecting them and maintaining order in the troop.”

Zoo staff noticed late last week that “Charles was not his usual self. He was quiet, had a reduced appetite, was slower than usual to get around and breathing a little quicker and harder.” The team made a presumptive diagnosis of heart failure and he was started on cardiac medication.

The 195-kilo Charles rallied over the weekend with a return of appetite and improved interaction with staff.

“Yesterday morning, Charles was bright and sitting up eating, but he deteriorated suddenly and quickly in the afternoon,” the zoo said, adding a “full post-mortem examination is underway and has already confirmed significant changes to his heart.”

The zoo notes that critically endangered Western Lowland gorillas in the wild typically live to 30 to 40 years old and that the “species continues to decline at an annual rate of 2.7% mostly due to poaching for bushmeat, disease, and habitat loss and degradation.”

In Charles’s memory, the zoo suggests donating to the new Charles Memorial Fund to support endangered species conservation projects in the wild, leaving a photo or memory of Charles on the zoo’s memorial page, or donating an old cellphone to the PhoneApes program at the Charles statue in front of the African Rainforest Pavilion to help save gorillas in the wild.