Cincinnati Zoo's Gladys the gorilla making progress after breaking arm in fight
A Cincinnati Zoo gorilla is making progress after breaking her arm in a fight with her siblings last month.
In a Thursday press release, the zoo announced 11-year-old Gladys is healing well, per a medical checkup. She had gotten into a scuffle with two other females in the troop, resulting in an arm fracture.
She underwent surgery on April 14 for her broken humerus, and was fitted with a 3D-printed cast made from titanium.
"She has tolerated this cast much better than the temporary one that was placed on her arm during surgery to repair her broken bone,” said Cincinnati Zoo’s primate team leader, Ashley Ashcraft. “Despite it weighing about 8 pounds, she’s been able to get around better than we expected."
Ashcraft and the rest of the gorilla team tended to Gladys 24/7 for the first couple weeks to give her pain medication and keep her company while she was separated from the rest of her troop. She is separated from them but can still see and hear them.
The zoo expects she will be kept in a cast for the next few weeks, then undergo physical therapy, but she should be able to use her arm like she used to. She will remain behind the scenes for a few more weeks after the cast is removed.
Gladys, a western lowland gorilla, was born Jan. 29, 2013 at a zoo in Brownsville, Texas. Cincinnati zookeepers stepped in because her mother was unable to care for her. She was cared for by human surrogates around the clock until she was placed with a gorilla surrogate mom.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Zoo gorilla healing after breaking arm in scuffle
