Gorilla baby treated after neglected by mom

updated 4:58 p.m. ET July 3, 2007

BERLIN - A baby gorilla from a German zoo was treated at a children's clinic after her mother's neglect left her dangerously dehydrated, zoo officials said.

Six-week-old Mary Two, who also was suffering from hypothermia, was admitted to the intensive care unit at the University of Muenster's clinic on Saturday and discharged a day later.

Joerg Adler, director of the northwestern city's Allwetterzoo, said Monday the baby's mother, Gana, had been interested in rejoining other gorillas — "and then she started to neglect her child a bit."

When the baby was found in a weakened state in her mother's arms on Saturday, "I said, now we are going to separate the two and at least we are trying to save the life of the baby," Adler told RTL television. "And this was ... just in time."

After the baby was discharged, Adler fed her with milk from a bottle.

The zoo said that Mary Two and great ape keeper Peter Bein set off Monday for another zoo, in Stuttgart, which has a unit that specializes in raising apes.

It said the unit would offer the baby the best chance to meet others of her kind. The Stuttgart zoo regularly takes in baby gorillas from other European zoos.

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