Pittsburgh (CNN) — The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is addressing the recent deaths of five zoo animals, three of which died this month.
"There certainly was no human error associated with any of these, no miscalculated drugs,” said Jermey Goodman, CEO of the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium.
Goodman explained that after both internal and external reviews, they found no human error played a role in any of these animals' deaths.
On average, the zoo says between 15 to 25 mammals die each year at the Pittsburgh Zoo.
However, the timing of these recent deaths has been difficult and forced the zoo to close just a few weeks ago so staff could meet with grief counselors.
“Anybody who works at the zoo knows that death is a part of the natural life cycle of all animals but that doesn't make it any easier."
In the past seven months, there have been five animal deaths at the zoo. Over the summer a red panda and an African lion died just a few weeks apart.
Then again, this month, a silverback gorilla died while under sedation.
And in the past two weeks, a two-year-old elephant and 18-year-old sea lion also died.
The zoo says they perform as many as 175 surgical procedures a year, but each presents an unknown risk.
“We know it has certain risks. We know that wild animals unfortunately will hide their symptoms very frequently until they're quite severe."
But still, the recent deaths are raising concerns after the zoo lost its accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums back in 2015.
The association's president was asked if this would impact the reaccreditation process.
“The fact that animals have died is not in and of itself unusual, the question would be, ‘are there unusual circumstances or is there some kind of connection?’."
The association says the Pittsburgh Zoo has not reapplied for accreditation, but when it does, it will be evaluated on several things such as animal wellbeing, emergency safety, finances, and staff education.
However, it is unlikely that these deaths would prevent the zoo from regaining accreditation.
“Jeremy knows what needs to be done and has been doing a great job."
The zoo has since returned to regular off-season hours.
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