The sudden death of a two-year-old gorilla at the Wilder Institute/Zoo in Calgary has prompted some conservation experts to push for change.

The zoo said Tuesday that Eyara, a female western lowland gorilla, was injured while moving between spaces behind the house.

Despite efforts to save her, Eyara ultimately died from her injuries.

The zoo declined to provide further details about the gorilla’s fatal injuries or their causes, saying an investigation was underway and an autopsy would be conducted.

The lack of details shared by the zoo doesn’t sit well with Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“This lack of transparency is really worrying,” he said. “I mean no useful information has been made available to the public, so it’s frustrating.”

Bekoff says the Calgary Zoo should eventually undergo a systemic review to ensure the facility’s animal caretakers are doing their jobs properly.

He says he believes all zoo employees have good intentions and are doing everything they can to keep the animals safe, but that some incidents can be avoided with more proactive measures in place.

“I’ve been on review panels at other zoos when there have been an unusual number of deaths, and sometimes it comes down to bad food, when there’s been rat poisoning and the animals made it,” Bekoff added.

“Maybe there was a pre-existing condition that they didn’t know about, other times it was inadequate veterinary care, and it’s not necessarily because the people at the zoo don’t care, but because they are trying to keep a gorilla in captivity – which is an equally unnatural place for a gorilla – it would be tragic no matter who the animals were.

In 2010, the Calgary Zoo came under review by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) following several incidents of animal deaths that occurred between 2005 and 2010.

“This review found that, over a five-year period, animal deaths and unusual deaths tripled,” said Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoo Check.

“They found a whole host of systemic issues, things that were beyond the control of the animals themselves, so staff training was identified as an issue…communications, exhibit design, like in the case of the colonies of bats, were at the origin of all this an unsuitable piano wire, which caused many deaths.

Laidlaw notes that the review identified several problems in particular, but unfortunately several animal deaths continued over the following decade, including:

Additional incidents and animal deaths including:

• In October 2011, a zookeeper resigned following the death of a corn snake because he left it unattended near a heat source;
• In September 2014, a problem with an ozone sensor in the hippopotamus the swimming pool is responsible for the deaths of 85 people tilapia;
• In February 2016, a otter drowned after getting tangled in pants given to him by a zookeeper.
• In December 2016, seven Humboldt penguins died drowned in a retention pond;
• In May 2023, a Masai Giraffe died of a broken neck after being caught in a cable around his enclosure; And,
• In July 2024, one of the zoo’s most popular polar bears, Baffin, died drowned after what zoo officials described as “rough play” with another bear.

“I’m not saying the people at the Calgary Zoo don’t have the best interests of the animals in their hearts and minds, but the fact is these things happen and they’re not good animals,” said Laidlaw.

“Certainly, if you try to say that you breed animals or keep them for conservation purposes and they die because of all these accidents and other things, you have a problem, and that goes to the “It goes against what you’re telling the public that you want to do, so they need to nip that in the bud and try to fix any problems they can identify.”

CTV News Calgary has contacted the Calgary Zoo for comment. This article will be updated as soon as a response is received.