Foggy, the Calgary Zoo's oldest resident, has been humanely euthanized after age-related deterioration in health, the zoo said in a release on Wednesday.
“Foggy was extremely old for a hippo and his health has been in gradual decline for several years,” said area curator, Jamie Dorgan. “For years we treated his ailments to make him comfortable and continually monitored his quality of life. Sadly, the time had come when there was nothing more we could do to mitigate his many age-related ailments and we felt that his quality of life was simply not acceptable anymore.”
Foggy was born at the Houston Zoo in 1965 and moved to Calgary nine months later.
Foggy earned his unusual name for the noisy bellows he made, sounding like a foghorn.
He sired seven offspring with three different mates, three of which were with Sparky, the zoo's resident female hippo.
The zoo says that cards can be dropped off at the Calgary Zoo Guest Relations office and memories and photos can be shared on the zoo's Facebook page.
For more information on programs and to make a donations, visit the Calgary Zoo website.
