KARACHI: A female chimpanzee, hardly four years old, was found dead in its Safari Park enclosure on Sunday morning, sources told Dawn.

Named Bubli, the animal had caught cold and been ill for a few days, they said.

This is the second death of a chimp within two months at a government-run facility for keeping wild animals. Last month, a male chimpanzee had died at the zoo.

When contacted, additional director of the Safari Park Dr Kazim Hussain confirmed the death and said she died of acute pneumonitis which she was diagnosed with only a day back.

“It’s a severe lung disease. We think it’s the present cold weather that she couldn’t bear. It’s unfortunate,” he said.

Sources, however, blamed the death on harsh conditions in which the animal had been kept with its mate for more than a year. Only three months back the media had highlighted their misery when the Safari administration separated the duo and kept them in two small makeshift cages for 17 days.