A DEVON zoo has announced the death of the last ‘oldest living ancestral dog’ for domestic dogs in the UK.

On Sunday evening Exmoor Zoological Park announced the death of Kota, the New Guinea Singing Dog.

A spokesperson for the zoo said: ‘It is with great sadness we announce the death of Kota our last New Guinea singing dog.

‘Kota our male dog had been in palliative care for the last two years and with the loss of Belle his partner just four weeks earlier his health rapidly deteriorated.

‘Both were nearly 15 years old and their post mortems revealed they had multiple problems all related to their age.

‘Both Belle and Kota have been phenomenal ambassadors for the zoo and have had a huge following and will leave a large hole in many hearts, especially their keepers. RIP Kota and Belle.

‘New Guinea Singing dogs have been shown to be the original ancestors of all domestic dogs in the Asian region.

‘Living wild in the remote mountains of New Guinea they have adapted to their environment over 20,000 years free from contact with people.Their DNA alleles have proven them to be the ancestors of the Australian dingo.

‘The zoo has announced this well after their passing due to sadness involved with their departure. Currently we are talking to the Singing Dog Conservation Society in the USA but there are only six females capable of breeding in the USA at the moment (of which there is only one mature) and no litters are planned until this summer.

‘Exmoor Zoo cannot definitively say if Belle and Kota will be replaced but we are trying to maintain a UK presence for this vitally important ancestral dog in the UK.

‘For over eight years our New Guinea Singing Dogs were the only Singing dogs in Europe. One of their sons is now exhibited at Zoo Zlín in Lesna in the Czech Republic with his partner.

Exmoor Zoological Park is a charity that specialises in the conservation of rare species.

The image of Kota in his prime was taken in 2011.

‘They were lovely dogs imprinted on people since birth and fantastic ambassadors for the zoo and for their survival as the oldest and rarest ancestral domestic dog in the world.

There is USA link  https://www.ngsdconservation.org to the specialist society trying to keep them alive in captivity.