The first gorilla ever born in Ireland and still alive is in Dublin Zoo.
The gorilla's mother Lena can not feed or look Grace so she lives at home with Gerry Creighton and his wife Catherine in Blanchardstown.
Her name is Grace and she's three months old.
The Creighton family has had to adjust its daily routine to care for the three month old gorilla. Grace, like a human baby, sleeps in a cot, wears nappies and babygrows, eats baby food, and receives the same love and attention. While Grace and her mother live separately at present, Gerry Creighton takes Grace to see her mother at Dublin Zoo every day through a glass panel.
The problem is that little gorillas have a tricky habit of growing up into big gorillas.
Director of Dublin Zoo Peter Wilson brings Grace to meet Gay Byrne in studio. Now 14 weeks old, Grace has five teeth and just like any baby is teething. Peter Wilson explains why Grace can not be with her mother right now. When Grace was just three days old, Lena ran out of milk and so Grace had to be taken away. He explains,
Once you break the bond, there's no way that mum will ever take her back again.
The plan for Grace is that after about a year, she is bound for Stuttgart. The zoo there specialises in bringing up baby gorillas. It is hoped by the age of around four, she can return to Dublin Zoo and be reintroduced back into the group. As for Grace's father, he is in Singapore.
Grace is on show at a special nursery in Dublin Zoo between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm each day.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 5 March 1993. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
