It looks like the three Children(blue, orange, green clothes) in the centre are standing/climbing on it. These cages look terribly small- I'll bet the chimps are teased continually by the visitors who can get so close. Pretty awful situation.
There is a barrier about a metre or so away from the cages. The children pointed out by Pertinax and everyone else standing in line nearest the cages are all either leaning or standing on the barrier. I've attached a still from a video clip which shows it a bit better. The chimps are continuously teased by visitors; the noise inside is terrible with incessant screeches from both species. Visitors like to hand items to the chimps through the bars, which is worrying, especially as their keeper just stands outside collecting an entry fee from everyone who visits.
This was the first time I'd ever been inside this building - it's always been closed whenever I visit, but I had read reports online of tourists being led inside. When the noise is too much for the chimps, they clear the room by spitting at the visitors, who all start shouting and running outside. They seem to be bored out of their minds. A very sad sight.
The narrow doorway shown on the back wall in the main photo (underneath the light) leads through to a dark and dingy room holding yet another large chimp in a sad state. Attached is a photo showing the area. The cage on the right and the cage with the chimp in (towards the back) are separate.
These chimps would be better off dead than in their current predicament, and I'm not exaggerating at all with that statement. Hopefully there is an agency working towards their release, although I'm not optimistic.
I've attached below a photo of the outdoor cages to give a better picture of their conditions.
@ snowleopard: where would you like them to be released to? It is likely that these animals have come as surplus from the Giza Zoo, where they are kept in equal, or perhaps marginally better conditions. Africa Safari Park have shown the success of open chimp enclosures with visitors (but with severe flaws in their design), as you can see from the gallery. The safari park also have a surplus of chimps. One of the main problems is the difficulty in financing a new enclosure, which would have to be larger and more open, with decent enrichment facilities. Each zoo director has said that this will cost millions of US dollars, but is a priority for each zoo - and has been for several years.
Given the capital that the Yorkshire Wildlife Park has made out of its 'rescue' of those lions from Rumania, a European zoo could, possibly, garner a huge amount of positive publicity by being involved with something like this. And I'm sure a tabloid newspaper - such as the one which funded the YWP lion thing - would like to be involved... they need some good publicity too right now. This does look pretty horrendous.
What about Monkey World in Dorset, England? That park is always swooping in and saving primates from horrendous environments and there are some large chimp groups already in place there.
As nice as it would be, I'm afraid I can't see a permanent solution being so simple. The chimps are clearly a big draw for visitors, and seem to be replaced when they leave the zoo for whatever reason. The fact that there's one chimp in a holding cage in a closed-off side room suggests that there is an overall surplus of chimpanzees. If these chimps go, they will only be replaced by new ones. What's more, if a selection of chimps are to be rescued, there are apparently chimps in even worse conditions in private collections across the North Africa and the Middle East (including in Egypt), so it might not be these which get priority. It's all a very big problem, and it won't be easy to solve.
