Star Gorilla From Viral 2019 Selfie Dies ‘In The Loving Arms Of’ Ranger Who Rescued Her 14 Years Ago
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shared the news of Ndakasi’s death in an Instagram post.
New Delhi: Remember the viral 2019 selfie in which two mountain gorillas were posing with rangers, mimicking them? Ndakasi, one of the two gorillas, died “in the arms” of the same ranger who had rescued her when she was an infant around 14 years ago.
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shared the news in an Instagram post.
Ndakasi and Ndeze, another female gorilla who was part of the viral image, had been staying at the Senkwekwe Center of Virunga National Park’s for more than a decade.
Ndakasi, 14, died in the arms of Andre Bauma, her caretaker since 2007, late last month. “On the evening of 26 September, following a prolonged illness in which her condition rapidly deteriorated, Ndakasi took her final breath in the loving arms of her caretaker and lifelong friend, Andre Bauma,” the park said in a statement, sharing a photo of the gorilla with her rescuer.
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Ndakasi, born in 2007, was only two months old when rangers from the Virunga National Park found her clinging to her dead mother. “With no other family members present, rangers quickly recuperated the infant gorilla and transferred her to a rescue center in Goma, where she was first introduced to Andre,” the national park said on its website.
It said the baby gorilla survived but was “too vulnerable to return to the wild”.
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Ndakasi started staying with other orphaned mountain gorillas under the care of the national park, and was quite a star on social media due to her antics.
In the documentary, Virunga, she can be seen consumed in laughter when a caretaker tickles her, the website noted.
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"I am proud to have called Ndakasi my friend," Andre Bauman, the ranger who rescued her 14 years ago, said in a statement.
“It was a privilege to support and care for such a loving creature, especially knowing the trauma Ndakasi suffered at a very young age. One could say that she took after her mother, Nyiransekuye, whose name means 'someone happy to welcome others',” said the ranger who "loved her like a child".
"It was Ndakasi’s sweet nature and intelligence that helped me to understand the connection between humans and Great Apes and why we should do everything in our power to protect them," he said.
Bauman added: "...her cheerful personality brought a smile to my face every time I interacted with her."
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