Timeline Of Great Ape Disrespect - Highlighting Orangutans

Pre-read... I just finished this post.  I intended it to basically be a sterile bullet pointed list.  It's long.  There's more to it.  No way to avoid it. The sad plight of our Orangutans, Ollie and Amoi, is personal for me.  I watched every step of their disrespectful time at Our Zoo, and it was heartbreaking.  There is no way my emotions would not sneak into this a bit.  It's important that newcomers understand and that no one forgets that everyday since these poor souls arrived here, they have been disrespected.  This will not end until an appropriate home is built for them.   An illusion of one was sold to get them here, it's way past time it became a reality.

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When I started this post and it's one, now three successors, back in December, I thought I was finally seeing an end to Zoo blogging as it has been for fourteen years.  I felt I had said all that could be said about the mass mismanagement under Director Tanya Peterson, and more than well documented most issues that made it into my realm.  I was energized to get to that finish line.  Then of course other Zoo BS happened in between and I've been talking about these two posts since. 

The reason for these posts was I wanted the last posts up to reflect, even if a repeat of previous words, some kind of synopsis to illustrate what I feel are key points in mismanagement that connect the disrespect of the Orangutans, to the insanity of bringing in Pandas, because make no mistake, they are related.  I wanted it laid out for anyone new to the saga to get a general understanding of at least this one factor that I believe should have been reason enough for some authority entity (Mayor, RecPark Commissioners) to override Director Peterson and Zoological Society Board, and shut the Panda Plan down. 

I know long-time readers might be like, geez, how many times she going to do this timeline?   Well, hopefully this will be the last, and it will be a bit different, as all the previous were focused on the Chimpanzees, and then Orangutans added on.  This will be focused on the Orangutans.  I do this not only to document a relatively, if not exact timeline, but because I don't expect others to have kept the same records I have. 

Ok so, let's get into this.  Starting with the history of Triple Grotto, the current home of the Orangutans.  Built in the mid-60s, each grotto is 32 feet across, according to this document. 

My estimation on the size of the islands, is less than half that.  You can see in this photo that the island raises up to a leveled off point, that is ridiculously small compared to the circumference. 

This is a photo of how a grotto island looked in the earliest days.  I was told soil landscaping wasn't added til the 80s.

These are aerial views of Triple Grotto, I used in a previous post to illustrate the size of the Islands, compared to a quarter of the size of the Chimp yard.  

Keep in mind the severely reduced topical space, due to added structures, as seen in this photo.

Photos below have also been included in previous posts.  They show the size of the Islands compared to other areas in the Zoo.

Anyone who knows these areas and have looked at them can readily understand the inappropriately small area the Orangutans are living in.

Present day view of the Triple Grotto enclosure our Orangutans are living in viewable in this video.  They have access to North and West (Middle) Grotto.  There is very little topical area on either island.  

*Orangutans 3.28.25 ... Shows Triple Grotto Building to Island + Bridge Bullshit

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=anp1Ri3u3xI

Timeline Continued...

I'm not sure the time frame for each species/grotto but I do know that Chimps, Orangutans, and Gorillas all occupied a grotto.  Pretty sure at the same time at some point.    

*Chimps - mid60s - March 2019

*Gorillas - mid60s - 1980s & approx 2002-2004 (Temporary relocation for two teenage bachelors set to be transferred to another Zoo.)

*Orangutans - mid60s - 2003

1997 -  San Francisco Residents Vote and pass a Bond for improvements to the Zoo.  The bond was for specific projects, the building of The Great Ape Forest, a new home for the Chimpanzees and Orangutans, was at the forefront of the campaign.  That never happened.  Money was misappropriated and never replaced by fundraising efforts or donor driven.

2005 - Bond Update showed the Great Ape Forest  had been cancelled.

2008 - News article notates, that over 10 yrs after the Bond was awarded, there were still questions about How the money was spent and Why the Chimps were still living in the "ancient" Triple Grotto.

2008-2013 - The SFZoo is very well aware of the AZA/SSP Guidelines in regard to Chimpanzee troops being four or more.  There has been no fundraising for a new Chimpanzee enclosure.  There has been no plans made for the inevitable future, when our troop number reduces.

2013 - Tallulah passes away.  Zoo Director Tanya Peterson does nothing to ensure that Tallulah's Chimp Family, Cobby, Minnie and Maggie are guaranteed a lifelong home at the SFZoo.

2014 - Triple Grotto deemed too outdated for Chimpanzees, AZA/SSP refuses to send anymore Chimps to SFZoo.  Rather than raise funds to build Chimps a new home at the Zoo, Director Tanya Peterson decides to kick our senior Chimps out of their home of over forty-five years. ... Allegedly she already had plans to bring in Orangutans.

2015 - Director Peterson's cruel plan to get rid of our Chimps is foiled by public outrage.  Chimps stay and new home to be built for them. 

Nov 2018 - New Bedrooms and Dayroom completed.

March 2019 - Chimps move out of Triple Grotto. ... Shockingly, news of Orangutans on the way is leaked.  Everyone's (myself and staff) big question is, Where will they go? 

April-May 2019 - Orangutans arrive.

With Triple Grotto previously deemed too outdated for Chimpanzees, and no renovation in sight, the horror and fear that the Orangutans would be tossed into Triple Grotto as is, is real.  Unimaginably, what actually happened is far worse. 

I've written endlessly about how heartbreaking the lives of our Orangutans has been since arriving, starting with the emotional and mental trauma forced on the male Ollie, who arrived first.  With the Chimp yard still under construction, this poor little boy was held inside the old Chimp house, while loud sounds of metal banging and screeching, were happening directly outside.  At nine years old, Ollie was allegedly not slowly separated from his Orangutan family at his previous Zoo, including his infant brother who he was bonded to.  One day he was with them, the next on a plane here.  Alone and with the sounds of a war zone going on around him.  This should not have happened.  This didn't need to happen.  At the very least he should have stayed at his previous home until that construction was done.  Ideally, until a proper home at our Zoo was constructed for him and the incoming female.

Some might ask, How is this treatment possible?

I've been questioning that for six years.  The only story I can piece together from information I've gathered is... Director Tanya Peterson once again created and sold an illusion, that the Orangutans were getting a new enclosure built.  That is what the male's previous Zoo was told.  Tanya allegedly used what was being built for Chimpanzees, was going to also be for Orangutans.  Other than selling the idea of rotating the species, I can't figure why no one asked how that was going to work.  One species would always be contained either inside, or in the Skytrail, which is what happened.

Also note:  The hands-off oversight approach that the Rec and Park Commissioners and Zoological Society Board Members have given Director Peterson, have allowed this and all other disastrous issues to happen.  Animal Acquisitions are supposed to be approved by Commissioners and Board Members, at the monthly Joint Zoo Committee Meeting.  In regard to the Orangutans, the female was already at the Zoo when her acquisition approval came-up.  Not sure anyone but me noticed.  No one noticed, because no one cared to.  Acquisitions are approved without question, specifically, Where will this Animal live?

May 2019 - New Chimpanzee Yard opens.  

June 2019 - Chimps have random access to their Yard.  My count is less than a dozen times and that's generous. ... Female Orangutan has alternating access.

July - August 18, 2019 - Chimps have had no Outside access for Seven Weeks.  Not to the Trails, Not to their Yard.  Exclusive access given to Female Orangutan.

8.18.19 - I had enough of what was going on with the Chimps, and made a call to Steve Ross the head of the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan.  He said he would make a call to the Zoo.

8.19.19 - In tears, I witness the Chimps were given outside access!  

Sept 2019 - Three new Chimpanzees arrive and integration by gender completed.  Two groups require use of both spaces, Dayroom and Yard.

9.26.19 - The Chimpanzees have had continuous access to yard since 8.19.19. ... This means that for five weeks, with no other yard, the only access outside of the bedrooms for the Orangutans is the Skytrails. ... Note the Male Orangutan has NEVER had any other outside access except for the caged tubes of the Skytrail.  

11.18.19 - All seven Chimps now integrated.  Due to Chimpanzee behavior and space requirement, they continue to use the Dayroom and Yard that was built for them.

8.19.19 - 12.17.19 - The Orangutans only outside access for Seventeen Weeks was the Skytrails.  I documented two things each week, that they were living in caged tubes, and that there was no attempt to provide them with a dedicated home of their own. 

*Orangutans Continue to Live in a Caged Tube 12.2.19

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KyhJlvNzODU

Dec 2019 - At Seventeen weeks, I thought, enough of this crap. What is going on?  Why is this being allowed to happen?  I sent an email to the AZA President Dan Ashe, the Orangutan SSP Chair Lori Perkins, and Orangutan Studbook Keeper Megan Elder.  I never expect to get responses, and I didn't, but I wanted the people responsible for sending these poor Animals to a place that has no proper home for them to know what was going on (if they didn't already), and that someone is watching and documenting this crime.  After eleven days, I sent the same message via Facebook Messenger to the AZA and the SSP.  The gist of the message was a repeat of my emails, Do you know...?  Maybe they did and didn't care, maybe they bought the illusion that there was or would be a place for them in the new Great Ape Passage.  Hard to believe that any professional with authority, would think rotating them through the Dayroom and Yard with an eventual Troop of seven Chimpanzees, was a feasible option, which I have illustrated many times it is not.   My message included a link to one of my shaming videos.  I also made a call to the USDA and reported the situation. ... Three days later the Orangutans had access to the yard.  Two days after that, there were non-Zoo people in Triple Grotto.  I'm not assuming my correspondence is connected to those events, but I'm also not one who believes in coincidence. 

12.17.19 ... Hallelujah!  Orangutans get access to Chimp yard.  Note: While female Amoi had some access four months ago, this was male Ollie's FIRST time in an enclosure since his arrival.  His ONLY outside access for eight months was the caged tubes of the Skytrail.

*OMG! There Was Christmas Joy for Ollie and Amoi! - Orangutan Update!

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2019/12/omg-there-was-christmas-joy-for-ollie.html

12.18.19 - 6.1.21 -  During at least a year of this time frame, The Orangutans got access to the Chimp yard, two days a week.

6.2.21 - Twenty-Five Months after their arrival, Ollie and Amoi finally have access to a dedicated enclosure.  It is a horrible Prison Pit, but at this point, at least they have a daily yard option. 

I've provided several links below.  Just a few in the multitudes of videos and posts I've made about the treatment of our poor Orangutans under the direction of Zoo Director Tanya Peterson, and because of neglect in duties of faux management of the Zoological Society Board and the oversight negligence of the Rec and Park Commissioners.  No one will like being called to the mat on this, but that is the truth.  If any entity from the above is reading this and cares, I urge you to visit the links I've provided.  If you really want an education, search this blog and my YouTube for "Orangutans". The information matters.  It mattered then and certainly matters now, six years later.  Do not continue to turn a blind eye any longer.

*News on Triple Grotto! - Orangutan Update - 1.13.20

iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2020/01/news-on-triple-grotto-orangutan-update.html

*Triple Grotto Renovation/Home For Orangutans Update 3.9.21

https://youtu.be/1ykFLabiXrs?si=-4oLzIl4VPDP4GCz

*Disgust At The Triple Grotto Renovation - Our Poor Orangutans

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2021/03/disgust-at-triple-grotto-renovation-our.html

6.2.21 - Present - The Orangutans have languished in the Triple Grotto as is.  There is NO Plan to give them a better home.  An appropriate home.  They spend more time in the trail than they do in this enclosure.  The caged tube of the trail is what they first knew here.  It's all they knew.  

I can think, maybe Ollie and Amoi don't know how bad their living environment is, but they are smart.  They look down at the Chimps all day in a nice yard, with netting they remember climbing on.  I think they understand.  Even if they don't know how horrible it is, I know.

Related Posts:

March 29, 2019 

*Orangutans - Where Will They Go?

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2019/03/orangutans-where-will-they-go.html

Next Up: The Moral Crime Of Bringing Pandas To Our Zoo

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