BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Zoo announced the death of one of their bison.
The zoo says Wilma, their oldest North American Bison passed recently.
They said in a post on twitter, "Our animal and veterinary care teams made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize Wilma, as her health had recently declined."
The normal median life expectancy for bisons is 15-20 years. Wilma lived until she was 29 years old, far exceeding life expectancy, and was one of the oldest known bison to live in a North American zoo.
She was born at the Buffalo Zoo on June 2, 1993 and lived her whole life there. Wilma gave birth to two male bison in 1998 and 1999.
Her caretakers say on a Facebook post, that they "will remember Wilma for being gentle and a great animal to work with. She loved apples, rolling around in fresh piles of sand, and giving kisses to her keepers. She had always been the head bison in the herd and did a wonderful job of showing the Zoo's new young bison the ropes. Wilma will be greatly missed by all of us here at the Buffalo Zoo."
Last fall, the Buffalo Zoo welcomed three new American Plains bison. They came from The Wilds, which is a zoological safari park just outside of Columbus, Ohio.
The zoo has been making improvements to the exhibit through the help and support of The 716 Foundation and a special gift they made to bring bison to the zoo.