Tomiris, a 17-year-old snow leopard at the Milwaukee County Zoo, died April 10

Tomiris, a 17-year-old female snow leopard at the Milwaukee County Zoo, died April 10. The zoo announced her death Thursday in a tweet saying it decided to euthanize the snow leopard because of "quality of life issues." 

The zoo's breeding male gorilla Cassius also died last week. 

Tomiris had been lethargic and had lost her appetite, so the zoo staff decided to do an exam. Bloodwork showed that she had poor kidney function. 

Snow leopards typically live to be about 15 years old. The zoo has two other young snow leapards: Orya is a female and Asa is a male, both are 3 years old. 

The zoo said, "Visitors will probably remember how much she enjoyed being curled up in her log on exhibit, and keepers comment what a good animal she was to work with because she had a definite 'personality,' and through her behaviors (like rubbing up against the exhibit fence or vocalizing to them) she relayed to them exactly how she was feeling. She was a “big sweetheart.”