Officials at the Limbe Wildlife Centre, LWC, have said samples taken for a post mortem analysis on one of the gorillas recently brought back into the country, are still being awaited from Germany.

Oyin, one of four Cameroonian gorillas smuggled to Taiping and returned through South Africa on November 30, 2007, died mid-morning on June 2 and was laid to rest at the Wildlife Centre.

"As a tradition, any animal that dies here is buried here at the Centre," one of the LWC officials said.The Centre's conservator, Vincent Ndoh Fomba, recalled that "on April 29 it was noted that Oyin was moderately depressed, her appetite decreased and she was lethargic. However, by May 2, Oyin brightened up and was more alert, but her appetite had not really changed."

Oyin's deteriorating health drew the attention of three veterinary doctors, who concluded that malaria was most likely the cause of the ape's failing health. Oyin was therefore, put on malaria treatment. But she did not recover.

It was reported that the gorilla's health deteriorated further leading to a condition where her white blood count was fast scaling down as compared to the level at which her body was producing new ones.

"This is a poor prognostic indicator. Oyin's blood was also sent to a local laboratory, apparently in Limbe, for biochemical and serological analysis," Fomba said in a report he sent to the Ministry of Forestry and Wild Life.

Oyin's poor health condition with vomiting, persisting signs of malaria and typhoid fever would bring a certain Dr. Noel a doctor from Douala. Still, there was no success.In the conservator's report, "on May 28, Oyin's condition had deteriorated as she continued to vomit undigested food and refused to eat or drink...we decided to anesthetize her for an extended period to facilitate prolonged intravenous fluid administration.

This was started on June 1. However, at 9:45 am on June 2, Oyin went into a respiratory then heart failure and finally died."Oyin is said to have died at an approximate age of 10. The Post was told that the average life span of a gorilla is 40.

"Though some could live up to 50 and 60 years," a LWC official said.

Red Carpet For Gorillas

It is worth recalling that at about 7 pm on November 30, 2007, Oyin and her three "kinsmen" were treated to a red carpet reception at the Limbe Zoo.The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife led a high-powered delegation including dignitaries from South Africa that made the return of the apes hot headline news in the country and beyond.

While Oyin's post mortem results are awaited, LWC's conservator, Fomba said baby gorillas are usually very delicate to raise."They are usually very close to their mothers and humans cannot in most cases really establish that close care the mothers usually accord to their baby ones," he said.

According to him, the lack of motherly care, however, was apparently not the cause of Oyin's death. He told The Post that the other three gorillas were doing fine."The other ones are quite fine, there are no signs of abnormality in either of them," Fomba said.

When The Post sought to know if the long time outside their natural habitat in Cameroon and the change from temperate to tropical climate and habitat was not behind Oyin's death, LWC authorities said before their return to Cameroon, veterinary officials at the South African National Zoo in Pretoria carried out several health checks and found them to be in good health.Oyin left behind 16 other gorillas still at the Centre with "Nyango" being the eldest 20 years.