Wild animal park owner Damian Aspinall has posted heartbreaking videos of the last moments of one of his most loved gorillas who has had to be put down.

He and keepers at Howletts near Canterbury are mourning the loss of Babydoll, who at the age of 57 was Britain's oldest gorilla.

She was only a year younger than Mr Aspinall and came to the park as an orphan and was hand raised by the Aspinall family who had a special bond with her.

Now he has spoken of the "heartbreaking" decision to put her down today after she became increasingly ill and weak.

Mr Aspinall shared the videos on his Instagram account, as he tried to feed her yoghurt and orange juice, with little success.

He says: "I was only thinking of what was best for her and her quality of life.

"I am so sad she had to die in captivity as she belonged in the wild but her genes will live on in her offspring.

"We must continue our work of re-introducing animals back into the wild and change the thinking of zoorocrats who believe animals belong in captivity."

Responding to a barbed comment on Instagram that re runs "two sizeable zoos", he responds: "I am not a hypocrite and am on record saying all zoos need to be phased out, which is exactly what we are doing."

Babydoll was named so by Mr Aspinall's grandmother because she was always sucking her thumb.

She was a key member of the park's gorilla group and where she built a close bond with the entire family, especially Damian, who is only a year older.

Throughout her long life, she gave birth to seven youngsters - four males and three females - and is survived by three of her offspring.

One of her grandsons was among the first group of male western lowland gorillas to be returned to the wild by The Aspinall Foundation.