Trilly the moose, a long-time resident of the Toronto Zoo’s Canadian Domain,died last week, zoo staff confirmed Monday.
Trilly, who died at the age of 11, was “beyond the average life expectancy” of a moose in human care, the zoo wrote in a post on social media.
“She had lost a lot of condition and had known arthritic changes in multiple limbs. Trilly was quite thin despite extensive efforts to increase her feed intake,” the post read.
“After performing the gross postmortem on Wednesday, we suspect her very thin condition was due to malabsorption but further test results will provide a final diagnosis.”
The zoo noted that moose are “notoriously hard to feed in old age.”
Trilly, the post went on to say, always kept staff “on their toes” and routinely showed off her “grumpy ears” when she didn’t get her way.
“She was very protective of her sister Lily, always keeping an eye on her,” the post read. Trilly was one of two moose in the zoo’s Canadian Domain.
The zoo said it released details of Trilly’s death in an effort to be “open and transparent” about animals in their care.
“We understand that learning about the loss of any animal can be difficult for our community, but we remain committed to honesty and transparency. With over 3,000 individual animals representing more than 250 species at the Toronto Zoo it's natural that we will experience losses,” the zoo said in the post.
“Thank you for your continued support and understanding as we strive to provide the best care for our animals. When we lose an animal, it touches all of us."