Mystery solved as Coco the zebra takes the pills

Coco the zebra will be reunited with his female companions at Wellington Zoo after treatment for the zebra equivalent of Parkinson's disease.

A mystery illness that has plagued Coco for years meant he had to be separated from the zoo's two female zebras.

They started picking on him because he wasn't strong enough to protect them.

Vets had suspected he had a tumour, an infection or Alzheimer's disease - though at age 12, Coco was only in zebra middle-age.

Zoo veterinarian Dr Andrew Rissman said Coco had a history of having fits and being unstable on his legs, and had fallen into fences.

But after taking samples from Coco, Dr Rissman has diagnosed the zebra as having degenerative encephalo myelopathy, a disease similar to Parkinson's.

Dr Rissman said he could not be certain of the diagnosis without doing a CAT scan.

But Coco was responding well to his treatment of daily tablets.

His pills are the same as those used to treat humans who have the disease.

Coco's symptoms were the same as those suffered by human Parkinson's patients: a slowing of reactions, shaking and difficulty with balance and co-ordination.

"He was weak, losing body mass and muscle tone," Dr Rissman said.

"He wasn't galloping around with the others.

Now he's getting better.

"He's eating well, he's bright, he's stable."

Dr Rissman plans to reintroduce him to his female zebra friends, Molly and Zardi.

Dr Rissman, who has been the zoo's full-time vet for a only month, was pleased the mystery of Coco's illness seemed to have been solved.

"It's been going on for several years, and we wanted to get to the bottom of it."

- NZPA