"What Got Wants" gorilla dying |
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Written by Matt
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Sunday, 23 November 2003 |
The BBC news website has another sad story for Roger Waters fans. The rare albino gorilla, called Snowflake, who appeared in Roger's video for "What God Wants", and who has enchanted visitors to Barcelona Zoo for decades, is dying of skin cancer. Snowflake has been at the zoo since being captured by a hunter in Equatorial Guinea in 1966. He is believed to be 38-40 years old - around 80 in human terms. He is expected to live for only a few months. Vets have known since 2001 that the albino gorilla has the disease, but it has suddenly progressed.
Snowflake (Copito de Nieve in Spanish) is thought to be the world's only living white gorilla. "Being albino, he's very sensitive to the sun," said the zoo's chief vet, Jesus Fernandez. "Though we've tried our best to protect him this is an incurable, progressive disease, and it will follow its natural course. We don't know how long he'll live, but probably not more than a few months." The zoo has promised to ensure that Snowflake has a "dignified death".
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