Curious Louisville

We know that all dogs go to heaven, but what happens to the Louisville Zoo animals when they die? This Curious Louisville question actually has a variety of answers — ranging from the zoo’s educational programs to a baby pool on the rooftop of a Bellarmine University science building. Dr. Zoli Gymesi is the senior staff veterinarian at the Louisville Zoo. “Let me start by saying that any time we lose a zoo animal, it’s a sad day,” Gymesi said. “But with any loss, we try to maximize what we can learn from their death.” He said that the zoo has a strict set of procedures after an animal dies. “We have a dedicated necropsy room, and in the necropsy room is where we would do post-mortem evaluations,” Gymesi said. “That’s gross dissection of the animal after it has passed, you usually get a good feel there, and then you harvest tissues that gets sent off to a veterinary pathologist for microscopic evaluation.” At that point, there is a full pathologic evaluation of the animal — cause of death, what kind of issues