Celeb Orangutan Put Down By Vets

A 49-year-old orangutan who had a brush with fame when his mate became an international artist has been put down by vets at his zoo.

Vladimir became a celebrity when his partner Nonja was encouraged to take up painting by keepers at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, the Austrian capital.

Then Nonja clicked with Facebook fans when she was given her own camera to take snaps for her own social media page.

Vladimir was euthanised on 14th February after vets - who had been monitoring his health - decided he was too poorly to go on without suffering.

Keepers had originally set up both Nonja - who died after kidney failure nearly five years ago - and Vladimir with paints, brushes and canvases,

But as Nonja thrived as an artist - with works selling for GBP 5,000 a time - Vladimir hated it and smashed up his own and his mate's equipment.

Nonja's keeper Claudia Kment said at the time: "Vladimir is very jealous, and if she starts painting, he grabs her work and smashes it up.

"It's because he tried it himself but he wasn't very good. He doesn't have the patience."

Following Nonja's death, Vladimir reportedly found another partner named Sari, with whom he had a daughter Kendari, named after the capital of the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi, in June 2022.

Vladimir was the oldest orangutan breed under the EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP) and had been living at Schoenbrunn Zoo since 1991.

Zoo officials claimed that they made the difficult decision to end his life after Vladimir's health significantly worsened in the past few weeks.

The zoo's head Vet Thomas Voracek said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: "Unfortunately, there was absolutely no reason to hope that his condition could improve again.

"Few orangutans reach such an old age. This is only possible with the best care.

"Due to his advanced age, we have been following him closely from a veterinary perspective over the past few years."

Orangutans which can now only be found in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China in the past, are considered critically endangered.

The zoo explained: "Because of large-scale clearing and the resulting destruction of the habitat on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, these fascinating animals are on the brink of extinction.

"Since 2021, the zoo has been supporting the Hutan project in the Kinabatangan region in Malaysian Borneo, where orangutans and many other endangered species live."