Family names newest baby gorilla at Brownsville zoo

BROWNSVILLE — It may only seem fitting that the latest addition to the Gladys Porter Zoo family of gorillas be named by the Wolfe family of Brownsville.

The three generations of the family, including Cassandra and Brad Wolfe, have help name the gorillas at the facility.

The newest baby gorilla was introduced as Samantha on Tuesday afternoon in front of a small crowd at the zoo. Samantha is the offspring of gorilla mom and dad, Penney and Moja.

Cassandra Wolfe, who named the baby gorilla in honor of her own daughter, said she knew the name was a sure fit when she realized Samantha’s own grandmother, Penny, and the baby gorilla’s mother shared the same name.

The Wolfe family won the right to name the gorilla at the Zoofari live auction in October.

“There aren’t many opportunities like this that come anybody’s way often,” Cassandra said. “To get an opportunity like this is priceless.”

Cassandra, a Brownsville native, and her husband are longtime supporters of the zoo.

“The zoo has been a part of my life since it opened in 1971,” she said. “I couldn’t pass this up. It’s the perfect opportunity to give back to the zoo and receive such an honor in return.”

Facility Director Jerry Stones fed the gorillas bananas and introduced them to audience members, who ate cupcakes frosted with a depiction of a gorilla. Stones talked about his work taking care of the animals, which originally hail from the West African rainforest.

Penney and Samantha, he said, had the same temperament.

“Penney is a very opinioned female,” he said of the mother gorilla, which was less interested in approaching him than fellow gorillas Martha and Mary. “She’s more aloof than the others.”

Stones said he spent the first year of Martha’s life sleeping next to her. He noted that due to Penney’s diligent mothering, he was unable to handle the baby Samantha the same way.

“If I touched her, I’d probably get bit or screamed at,” he told the crowd. “The mother wouldn’t mind — she’s used to me — but the baby would.”

Samantha should eventually grow to be between 150 and 250 pounds. Male western gorillas can grow to be up to 600 pounds.

This year the western gorilla went from endangered to critically endangered on the World Conservation Union’s list of threatened species.

Deforestation in recent years has made poaching easier, and the Ebola virus has wiped out up to 95 percent of gorilla populations in some areas, according to the BBC. Humans are the biggest threat to gorilla survival.