Snowflake, the albino guerilla of Barcelona, is dying of skin cancer

[BurtWorm]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2003/09/19/albino/index.html

[Lorien]

1. How sad

I remember his baby photos in National Geographic ages ago. :-(

[BurtWorm]

2. Me too

I like this picture of him as an adolescent:



What a handsome guerilla! He looks a little like Roman Polanski.

[MoonAndSun]

3. What a beautiful animal,

according to the article, he lived a very good and long life:



<snip> Copito is thought to be between 38 and 40 years old, the equivalent of 80 human years for gorillas whose average life span in the wild is 25.

In his 37 years at the Barcelona zoo, he's fathered 22 offspring with three different females. None is albino.





I hope his last remaining time on this earth will be made as easy and comfortable as possible.

[corarose]

4. When I heard about Snowflake it made me cry

He is so rare and beautiful and I would have given anything to have seen him in person but I won't be able to.

When I was a small kid my Mom use to take me to the zoo to see one of the famous Gorillas and he died. I felt so bad about it but when i go to the museum he is stuffed and on display.

I hope that they stuff him when he dies. I know that sounds sick but people are wiping them out and some day there will be no more Gorillas and people will be able to look at a rare albino one.

[BurtWorm]

5. There already is an effigy of Snowflake at the Barcelona Zoo

I've never been there, but I've seen pictures of it. It's not the same as having the real live Snowflake.

[Lady President]

6. Poor thing

I was so sad when I heard this story. :( He is such a lovely guy! I'm happy he lived such a full life (and he was a zoo star). Most albino animals have a very short lifespan in the wild, so even though I wish he could stick around longer, he has been pretty lucky.

[BurtWorm]

7. Ohmigod! I just realized I misspelled gorilla!

That's what what happens when you hang around a political site too long.

:spank: