It was with heavy hearts that we had to say goodbye to two very special animals this year.

The Safari Park’s 60-year-old female gorilla, Vila, died of age-related illness on January 25, 2018. Vila was the matriarch of five generations of gorillas, and she was believed to be the second-oldest gorilla in the world at the time of her passing. She was the mother of Alvila, the first gorilla born at the San Diego Zoo, and she helped raise several youngsters born in her troop over the years.

Another farewell took place thousands of miles away, but touched everyone in the wildlife conservation and zoological community. Sudan, the last male northern white rhino on Earth, died of age-related illness at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, on March 19, 2018, at the age of 45. This was a devastating loss felt keenly by many people working to save the northern white rhino from extinction. But Sudan’s passing was also a galvanizing event, giving researchers, including at SDZG, even greater determination to save these rhinos.