The 24-year-old orangutan who was moved in late September from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. to the new Great Ape Trust Learning Center in Des Moines, was euthanized Thursday.

A spokesman for the primate learning center said the orangutan had not been eating or acting right so she was taken to Iowa State University's veterinary medical center.

Indah had a chronic bowel condition since her youth. Her keepers became concerned that she was constipated and had a blockage.

Indah, the female of the pair of orangutans  at the Great Ape Trust, died Thursday. RODNEY WHITE/The Register

Meet Indah    A Register photographer shot this video of Indah at the center on Oct. 29.  (8.3 MB)

After exploratory surgery, it was determined that her intestines were so severely damaged that she would not have survived two more weeks, said Robert Shumaker, the scientist who has worked with the two orangutans since 1995.

The ape had so many adhesions and abscesses on her intestines, which also showed signs of leaking, that it was a terminal condition. The orangutan was euthanized Thursday while she was under anesthetic for surgery that veterinarians initially hoped would solve the problem

Shumaker said Indah had not been exhibiting pain, but would have suffered until her death so veterinarians were unanimous that euthanasia was appropriate.

Robert Shumaker said orangutans normally live to age 40 and can live to be as old as 60.

Indah arrived in Des Moines with her brother Azy, 26, in late September. Shumaker said her bowel condition probably had begun to deteriorate a year earlier. He added that the stress of the move did not exacerbate her condition.

Azy and Indah had been working with Shumaker in the Orangutan Language Project at the National Zoo since 1995. Shumaker has moved to Des Moines to run the project.

Three other species of apes, including bonobos that will be brought from Georgia, will occupy the primate center. Researchers hope that by studying the primates, and through public education, they can improve their chances of surviving in the wild.

Orangutans are found in the wild only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and are in danger of extinction. Staffers hope the Des Moines facility's work on the language and brain function of the apes will help save them.

The trust project is spearheaded by Ted Townsend of Des Moines, whose family owns an engineering firm. Townsend has spent about $10 million on the first phase of the project, which will also include another building for a family of bonobo apes that will arrive in about six months. Later phases will have buildings for gorillas and chimpanzees. Private donations, grants and endowments will largely pay for future expansions and operational costs.

Indah, a 24-year-old orangutan, has died six weeks after moving to Des Moines.

Veterinarians euthanized Indah about 6 p.m. Thursday at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, after they discovered she had a terminal intestinal condition.

Indah, whose name is Indonesian for "beautiful," had lived at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa with her brother, Azy, who now is the facility's only ape. She had suffered a chronic bowel condition since she was an infant, but responded well to medicines, said Rob Shumaker, director of the orangutan language research project at the Des Moines facility.Both Indah and Azy passed physical examinations that included abdominal X-rays before they were flown to Des Moines from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28.

Six weeks later, a dozen veterinarians and an Ames obstetrician discovered that Indah had an infection in her abdominal cavity that had damaged her intestines and colon beyond repair.

After half a day of diagnostic work by ISU veterinarians who were handling their first orangutan case, the Great Ape Trust experienced its first major setback with news that Indah would not survive."This is a tragedy for all of us," Shumaker said. "It's life-changing for Azy and for me. It's a 20-year relationship and a 20-year friendship."

Indah's unexpected demise shocked the staff and many others who have followed the development of the research center, the brainchild of Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend.

"We're all reeling," Shumaker said. Azy was visibly disturbed when Indah was taken away, he added.

Shumaker's work with Azy, who matches objects with symbols on a computer screen, will continue without change, the scientist said. Indah was doing the same types of activities, but was better with numbers than her brother.The illness was not viral or bacterial, and will not affect Azy, said Dennis Riordan, the Great Ape Trust's veterinarian.

The Des Moines facility is billed as the only one in the United States that will do language and cognitive research on all four types of great apes: orangutans, bonobos, gorillas and chimpanzees. Indah and Azy were the first apes to arrive at the facility near Easter Lake in southeast Des Moines. Bonobos are expected next spring, with chimpanzees and gorillas coming later.This week's loss won't affect those plans, Shumaker said. He doesn't expect any damage from publicity of the death because it was the result of natural causes. Veterinarians told him that nothing relating to Indah's travel to Iowa or care at the research center had anything to do with her demise.

"Nobody would have moved her here if we had the tiniest thought that it would jeopardize her," said Shumaker.

Shumaker said plans for Indah's body are uncertain. ISU was conducting an autopsy Friday.Veterinarians told Indah's caretakers that her condition probably had deteriorated over the past year, based on what they saw in the examination. She had showed no signs of pain, but had started eating and drinking less and had become severely constipated.

All the veterinarians agreed to euthanize her while she was under anesthetic for surgery Thursday because she would have faced excruciating pain and would have lived no more than a week, Riordan said.Orangutans usually live to about age 45, sometimes to 60. "She died very young," said Shumaker. Azy is 27 and is in good health, Shumaker said.

Veterinarian Riordan took Indah to ISU about midday Thursday after discovering that her bowels were obstructed and that she would need surgery to open them.

A team of 10 to 12 veterinarians and one gynecologist specializing in human medicine took X-rays and scans that were largely inconclusive but showed that Indah might have a growth on her uterus. A hysterectomy was scheduled."At this point, I thought, OK, this is simple, and she'll be back to good health in no time," Shumaker said. "When they opened her up, all their faces just fell," he added, wiping tears from his eyes as he sat in his office at the research center. "They realized it was tremendously worse than we thought, and it was, in fact, terminal."

Shumaker praised the team of high-level veterinarians who worked on Indah: "I don't think she could have received better care."Anthropologist William Fields, who is preparing to move bonobos from Georgia State University to Des Moines next March, said Indah's death had nothing to do with her care in Des Moines. In fact, he said the apes at the research facility will benefit from the specially designed quarters that give the apes less of a sense of being captive.

Visits postponed

Public visits to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa that were set for January by appointment have been postponed indefinitely. That's partly because the trust hopes to bring in more orangutans, and they would need time to settle in, said scientist Rob Shumaker.
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About Indah

BORN: 1980 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. She was raised at the San Diego Zoo, then returned to the Washington Zoo in 1984.
DIED: Nov. 11, 2004, in Des Moines.
CAUSE OF DEATH: A terminal intestinal condition led to euthanasia.
SURVIVORS : A brother, Azy, of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa in Des Moines.
MEANING OF NAME: "Beautiful" in Indonesian
PLANS FOR THE BODY: Undecided. An autopsy was under way at Iowa State University on Friday.