Lake Superior Zoo Announces Loss Of Two Animals

This is very sad news for the crew at Lake Superior Zoo and the community. Two of their beloved animals have passed away. The zoo welcomed two twin baby pygmy slow lorises in February and sadly, they have since died.

Lake Superior Zoo officials shared the sad news on social media on Tuesday (April 11th), writing that they were broken hearted over the loss of the lorises. The lorises passed from failure to thrive, which means they were not able to gain weight or grow when they were young.

The lorises were part of a what the Lake Superior Zoo says is a Species Survival Program, meant to keep animals that are "vulnerable and endangered" in zoos until there is a self-sustaining population and they are able to be released into their wild environment.

Basically, the zoo serves as a placeholder until the lorises are thriving and able to live on their own and in the wild. Because of this, the parents of the lorises need to raise the babies on their own and without intervention from humans or zoo staff. The staff at the zoo says they are devastated by this loss and hope the parents will get a chance to be parents again in the future.

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In February, the Lake Superior Zoo shared the exciting news that they had welcomed these two twin baby pygmy slow lorises. It was a bit of a surprise, as it was actually a visitor who spotted one of the babies and alerted the staff! The Lake Superior Zoo welcomed twins of the same kind in March of 2022 and the public had the chance to name them, choosing Gnocchi and Pesto for the cuties.

My heart goes out to the staff at Lake Superior Zoo, as I imagine they become close to all the of the animals at the zoo. The Lake Superior Zoo made headlines for another reason this week, as a theft suspect went on a run from cops which ended on the grounds of the zoo.