Batik, a 22-year-old female Sumatran orangutan at the Oregon Zoo, died Thursday afternoon following a monthlong illness, zoo officials said. In early June, veterinarians identified an infection in the
orangutan’s gall bladder as well as an abnormal kidney, according to
Mitch Finnegan, zoo veterinarian. Surgery was performed to remove both organs, but Batik continued to decline, suffering a number of complications and setbacks. Foremost among these was the accumulation of fluid in her abdomen, which keepers and veterinarians had been treating and attempting to determine the cause of. On Thursday, Batik was taken to a referral veterinary diagnostic center for ultrasound and CT scans of her chest and abdomen, and she died shortly after returning to the zoo during recovery from the anesthesia for those procedures.

“Orangutans are difficult patients under the best of circumstances, and Batik had very serious and complex health problems that tested the commitment and resourcefulness of both the veterinary and keeper
staff,” Finnegan said. “Despite our hard work and best efforts, in the end we were unable to get ahead of Batik’s many problems. Batik had a kind and gentle spirit despite all she had been through in her life, and she will be greatly missed by all of us who were fortunate enough to have known her.”

Zoo staff members had great affection for Batik and described her as compassionate and loving. She was born Aug. 19, 1987, at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo, and was hand-raised by humans when her mother became ill and could not care for her. She was later sent to live at the Sacramento Zoo, but did not get along well with the other orangutans in the zoo’s group. She came to the Oregon Zoo in 1996 and had become close with both Inji and Kutai. Following Kutai’s arrival in 2001, she became more dominant within the group, sometimes challenging the matriarch, Inji.