San Francisco Zoo hopes to forestall old gorilla's last gasp

SAN FRANCISCO
Zoo hopes to forestall old gorilla's last gasp
Unprecedented surgery to remove Kubi's lung

Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

More than 11 million Americans are diagnosed annually with chronic bronchitis. Now joining that list is a San Francisco Zoo gorilla named Kubi, who has never smoked a day in his life.

In an operation that's a first in the world of both doctors and apes, surgeons from UCSF Medical Center will remove his right lung.

"We have no choice but to do surgery," said Dr. Freeland Dunker, head veterinarian at the zoo.

The operation in the zoo hospital will last six to eight hours and could happen as early as Thursday. There's a 30 percent chance that the patriarch of Gorilla World will die under the knife and a 50 percent chance he'll succumb within the next 30 days.

Without the operation, the medical experts agree, the silverback western lowland gorilla will surely die.



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