ANIMAL KINGDOM : Chimp Drowns in New Zoo Home

A 20-year-old chimpanzee playing at the Detroit Zoo’s $7.5-million outdoor habitat, which opened last week, drowned when it jumped into the moat surrounding the exhibit.

A zookeeper who saw the chimp jump Sunday summoned help and worked with a veterinarian and Zoo Director Steve Graham to fish it out and administer cardiopulmonary and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Graham said today.

But the lungs of the chimp, which had spent about five minutes on the bottom of the moat, had filled with water, Graham said.

Zoo visitor Brenda Nowosad of Portage, Ind., said one girl began crying as zoo workers dragged the chimp’s body out of the water and tried to resuscitate it. “It was so sad,” Nowosad said. “They worked for about 20 minutes and then they put it on a golf cart and took it away.”