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The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo says it can no longer control Ma’s pain and has decided to euthanize the capuchin monkey next week.

Ma has been in palliative care at the zoo and has needed prescribed pain and anti-inflammatory medication.

“We have been managing Ma’s pain associated with aging for over a year but despite our best attempts, her quality of life has diminished and we are no longer able to control her pain,” Dr. Dennilyn Parker, with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement.

Following a veterinary examination, the zoo said it made a difficult decision to say goodbye to the animal.

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“Ma’s health and quality of life continues to decline and we have made the medical and humane decision to let her go,” zoo manager Tim Sinclair-Smith said in a press release on Aug. 23.

“We are going to miss her and while we know this will have a deep effect on our staff and anyone who’s come to see her since the mid-1970s, it’s the compassionate thing to do.”

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Sinclair-Smith said Ma has well-surpassed the typical lifespan of her species.

The monkey arrived from the University of Saskatchewan in 1974.

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