07/29/2025
Saying goodbye is the hardest part of what we do.
Earlier this week, we made the incredibly difficult decision to humanely euthanize Buttercup the capybara. Buttercup was nearly 12 years old, far outliving her median life expectancy of 8.6 years. Due to her old age, we have monitored her quality of life even more persistently than usual over the last several years. Recently, Buttercup began to experience an overall decrease in her bodily condition. She has been losing weight and muscle mass, refusing to eat even with diet changes and experiencing episodes of stumbling, tremors and fainting.
Due to these ongoing circumstances, and in light of her age, it was undoubtedly time to ease her pain. We will miss her tremendously. We know many in the community will also carry this loss with them.
Despite the pain involved in losing our friend, this is also an opportunity to celebrate the 11 wonderful years we shared with Buttercup. She spent almost her entire life with us, and her keepers found that working with her was very uplifting and rewarding. Buttercup had a strong personality and was very independent, so she had some difficulty trusting her keepers at first. However, through lots of love and patience from our amazing team, she developed into a goofy, playful and lively capybara. She particularly loved swimming in her pool and eating bamboo. We even made a special floating feeder for her to enjoy.
We will miss Buttercup, and we remain thankful for the time we spent with her. We appreciate everyone's love and support during this difficult time.
