Baby gorillas raised by zoo pair

The pair clung to their keepers instead of being carried like babies

Two baby gorillas whose mothers were apparently unable to care for them have been raised by stand-in parents - a pair of zookeepers.

Kouki, a six-month-old female, had a mother whose maternal instinct dwindled, while 10-month-old Oudiki's mother "did not know what to do".

Donna Honey and Matt Stag stepped in and pretended to be their parents at Howletts Wild Animal Park, Kent.

They made gorilla noises, pretended to forage and let the pair cling to them.

The keepers tried to do "as few human things with them as possible" and behaved as gorillas would do, so they could one day be released alongside wild-born gorilla orphans.

Oudiki and Kouki, western lowland gorillas, have the same father and so are half brother and sister.

Not fed properly

Kouki stayed with her mother for three months but ended up being left in the straw and mistreated by other gorillas while her mother went looking for food - something most other gorillas would apparently not do.

Oudiki, a male, had a mother who did not feed him properly.

"In the end, she didn't want to know," Miss Honey, 25, a keeper for two years, said.

Oudiki and Kouki will now be released into the wild in Africa.

Howletts spokeswoman Eddie Hill said: "We don't like to spilt families up but because these gorillas have been rejected it is an opportunity to take them to Africa."

She said there was "an immense amount of paperwork and government issues involved in returning gorillas to their natural habitat", but it was hoped the pair would be freed in the Gabon this year.