Hundreds heartbroken as zoo announces death of two 'longest serving residents'

10 June 2023 , 21:27

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Five Sisters Zoo shared the news which left hundreds heartbroken (Image: Stuart Vance/ReachPlc)

Hundreds were left heartbroken after a zoo announced the death of two of its “longest serving residents”.

Five Sisters Zoo shared the sad news of the passing of two of their most beloved animals, leading to an outpouring of love and sadness.

Two donkeys, Chocolate and Fudge had to be put to sleep after they died in tragic circumstances.

Chocolate fell ill and after he was put to sleep, Fudge began refusing food after losing his “life-long companion”.

The two donkeys have spent every single day together since they arrived at the zoo in 2005 after being rescued.

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They spent over 6,000 days together before being separated.

Chocolate and Fudge were two of the zoos 'longest serving residents' (Five Sisters Zoo)

Chocolate fell ill and had to be put down, before Fudge began refusing food (Five Sisters Zoo)

Sharing the sad news on their Facebook page, Five Sisters Zoo said:"It is with great sadness that we have to announce the sad passing of our two longest serving residents, Chocolate and Fudge.

"Chocolate had been ill for some time, and as his condition progressed our veterinary team had to make the sad decision to put him to sleep.

Fudge was his life-long companion, and despite living with our group of donkeys and ponies, he began to pine for Chocolate and rejected all food.

"Donkeys are prone to a very serious condition called hyperlipidaemia if they don’t eat enough while pining and unfortunately this is what happened to Fudge. Despite the best possible care from our dedicated veterinary and keeping team, his condition worsened and we had to make the difficult decision to put Fudge to sleep too.

"Chocolate and Fudge were rescued by Brian and Shirley even before Five Sisters Zoo was established in 2005 and hadn’t spent a day apart since. They were adored by so many and we are all heartbroken to have lost two real characters of the zoo."

Kieren Williams