Yesterday afternoon, the Cincinnati Zoo released a statement, Ndume is going home!
“Since Koko’s unfortunate passing earlier this summer, we’ve been considering the best options for Ndume,” said Dr. Kristen Lukas, Chair of the Gorilla SSP. “The SSP is confident that the Cincinnati Zoo will provide Ndume with outstanding care, access to modern, flexible, and specialized gorilla living areas, and a myriad of socialization options as he makes this transition. We’re all looking forward to seeing Ndume thrive in the company of other gorillas.”
“We completed upgrades to Gorilla World last year and have doubled the size of our gorilla habitats and specialized care spaces,” said Ron Evans (Cincinnati Zoo Curator of Primates). “We can provide Ndume with a flexible, accommodating home and excellent opportunities to be near and cohabitate with other gorillas, a critical foundation need for this highly social species.”
“Assuring Ndume is in the best possible social and welfare situation is everyone’s top priority,” said Dr. Candice Dorsey, AZA’s Senior Vice President of Conservation, Management and Welfare Sciences. “The Gorilla SSP and Cincinnati Zoo are taking the appropriate steps to assure Ndume has the best possible future.”
Full press release here:
This is great news! Getting him out of there asap yay! Should have been years ago. This move is a surprise since the Cincinnati Zoo just left him there for 27 yrs. I sure hope all they are promising happens for Ndume. He deserves it. I'm hoping that in the 27 yrs since he was sentenced to The Gorilla Foundation, they have got some wonderful and compassionate Keepers who will adore Ndume and want to do everything that is right for him. Cincinnati Zoo, The World is watching! Make-up for the years you left him to languish. ... Hope he's celebrating his Birthday in October with Gorilla Friends! We will all look forward to the party.
I must also say that the quotes by Kristen Lukas, Ron Evans, and Candice Dorsey had that rosy PR glow. Words that don't go unnoticed. They should make you wonder, Why these feelings didn't help Ndume the last two plus decades while he sat in isolation? I heard they never wanted to move Ndume because it might upset Koko. So all their care for his welfare came secondary to Koko's? They would have left him there to die, if Koko had outlived him. Shame on all of them. Especially Ron Evans who is quoted as knowing Ndume since he was two years old.
RIP Gorilla Foundation. Thankfully. Hopefully someday all the their followers will know the truth. They will know that the selfishness and greed of Penny Patterson, kept Koko, Michael and Ndume from living their natural lives. It kept them from having Gorilla Families. All for what? Money? Past the initial experiments, there was never "great work" to be done. There was never a move to Maui past fantasy. There was never babies in Koko's future. There was living in trailers, non-species diets, no medical care, pimping for donations, and isolation. Koko and Michael had no choice, Penny owned them. Good riddance to The Gorilla Foundation for the lives of four Gorillas they wronged. The fourth was an infant female named Bebe who came with Michael after being stolen from the wild. She died shortly after arriving.
Thankfully Ndume belonged the Zoo system and has finally been recalled home. His saving grace and they finally did right by him. He should never have been sent there, never left there for near three decades. Hopefully he will have many more years of a good life and forget all the years he was forced to live a life no Great Ape should.
Thank you to everyone who participated in helping Ndume. Those who wrote letters, and signed the Petition. This move may have been in the works before we started crusading for him, but I believe our Voices for Ndume were heard and helped. Don't ever stop being a Voice for those who can't speak for themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment
*Thank you for your comment. All comments are appreciated and I try my best to reply back in a timely manner. Sometimes timely isn't possible, but I will reply to all comments at some point. Please check back.
*If you have a problem commenting, don't see your comment (within 24 hours), or want to contact me for any other reason, please use the about.me link on the sidebar.
*You can be a Voice for the SFZoo Animals by Contacting the San Francisco Zoo Director Tanya Peterson at tanyap@sfzoo.org
*Thank You for taking the time to read about things that matter to me.