It’s a heartbreaking scene that would move anyone.
For the past four days, Lola, an eastern lowland gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, has been caring for a broken DVD copy of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. But sadly, the damage is beyond repair.
“Right now, what Lola is experiencing is a betrayal of her maternal instincts,” said San Diego Zoo spokesperson Eileen Weiss. “She’s barely slept, and the harder she tries to tend to the disc, the more emotionally taxing it becomes for her.”
According to Weiss, despite the fact that the DVD of the 1990 crime drama is scratched well beyond the point of use, the 14-year-old gorilla continues her daily ritual of washing the DVD in the river, attempting to feed it, and keeping it warm at night against her own body.
As to why zoo officials haven’t intervened, Weiss explained that simply removing the critically acclaimed film from the enclosure might cause Lola to react in a way that could compromise the well-being of the other animals.
“Yesterday, we noticed that Lola had left the DVD unattended for about eight hours,” said Doug Troutner, lead researcher at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. “We thought it was over, but by nightfall she had returned with food, and she was seen curled up with it, in and out of sleep.”
With playback of the film’s iconic scenes ruined and Lola refusing to part ways with the damaged disc, zoo officials now say they have no choice but to wait until nature intervenes.
Absolutely tragic.
