Chessington Zoo Christmas Treats for Gorillas

[amy]

I was wondering, what are people's opinions on keepers 'going in' with their charges? It's becoming a thing of the past now, do we think rightly or wrongly? I can totally understand it with felids as personally, I don't believe their hunting instict is ever totally buried, regardless of how they were raised. However nearly all elephants are now dealt with using PC methods and also apes that may have had keeper presence for many years are now also kept much more at arms length. Regarding the elephants, I realise there have been several keeper deaths over the years and am in no way trying to be disrespectul about these. I also don't know if any were staff error, rogue ele's or just unfortunate incidents.

Is 'going in' an ego thing or a valid piece of enrichment for the animals? I'd like to think the apes may be the safest option and recommend to anyone the book written by Jambo the Jersey gorilla's keeper (I forget his name but the book was excellent for an insight to zoo keeping without 'elf and safety). Was it niavety in the day? Or are we too conscious of the potential pit falls now? Any opinions?

 

[Pertinax]

I'd like to think the apes may be the safest option and recommend to anyone the book written by Jambo the Jersey gorilla's keeper (I forget his name but the book was excellent for an insight to zoo keeping without 'elf and safety).

Its worth noting nobody at Jersey ever 'went in' with Jambo. He was mother-raised at Basel in their group and I don't think he had much direct human contact (apart from through mesh) after he was a baby and prior to arriving at Jersey already aged 10.

They did go in with the two females Nandi and N'Pongo as described in the book by Richard Johnstone-Scott, their keeper, when they were adult and still living in the old 'mammal house' (before Jambo arrived), but I think that stopped too, with odd exceptions, after they started breeding. But they had plenty of handraised youngsters around that time too.

 

[amy]

Those are the names! Thanks Pertinax it's been a while since I read the book and my gorilla family tree memory's nowhere near as sharp as yours. If I remember rightly there's an amusing anecdote (in hindsight by the writer) about being virtually strangled before having his tie cut off to release him from the grip of one of said females. Uniforms were far less practical in those days eh?

 

[Pertinax]

There is another anecdote I once heard about Jambo which isn't in that book and I don't know if its really true but anyway-

Despite Jambo being very friendly to his keepers they never went in with him at Jersey as, like many male Gorillas, he wasn't regarded as trustworthy and was extremely strong.

In the small Gorilla house he first lived in at Jersey, there were three indoor dens seperated from their outdoor area, with simple 'up and down' pulley system weighted sliding doors connecting them. To clean the indoor dens and during the daytime the Gorillas were routinely shut outside, then let back in again later. This system went on for years with nothing untoward happening. Then one day when Jambo was outside he decided he wanted to get inside (I can't remember the reason) so he went up to the sliding door, calmly pressed his hands against it like a suction cup, slid it up and went in. Yet for years he had sat outside while keepers cleaned his indoor quarters every day, never aware that the Gorilla sitting outside could actually have opened the sliding door and joined them if he wanted!

True?- I'm not sure but a nice story.

 

[amy]

Brilliant, I bet almost every zoo keeper in the world's got at least one amusing tale to tell. If that was me it would have probably taken ages for the magnitude of that to set in. Initial reaction...damn, get out. Hours later....hmmm, if he got in today, he could have done it whenever he wanted....gulp. You gotta love apes.

 

[Pertinax]

Hours later....hmmm, if he got in today, he could have done it whenever he wanted....gulp. You gotta love apes.

I think that was exactly their reaction! In the current house they have electric self-locking doors so that sort of thing couldn't (?) happen nowadays.

One thing I didn't know until I read that book (Jambo, a Gorilla's story) was that early on Jambo nearly escaped by leaping from the climbing frame onto the perimeter wall of the same enclosure. Fortunately he jumped back in, rather than out. So they cut the climbing frame down by half. When I visited I had wondered why it was so stubby-looking...

 

[johnstoni]

I was wondering, what are people's opinions on keepers 'going in' with their charges? It's becoming a thing of the past now, do we think rightly or wrongly? I can totally understand it with felids as personally, I don't believe their hunting instict is ever totally buried, regardless of how they were raised. However nearly all elephants are now dealt with using PC methods and also apes that may have had keeper presence for many years are now also kept much more at arms length. Regarding the elephants, I realise there have been several keeper deaths over the years and am in no way trying to be disrespectul about these. I also don't know if any were staff error, rogue ele's or just unfortunate incidents.

Is 'going in' an ego thing or a valid piece of enrichment for the animals? I'd like to think the apes may be the safest option and recommend to anyone the book written by Jambo the Jersey gorilla's keeper (I forget his name but the book was excellent for an insight to zoo keeping without 'elf and safety). Was it niavety in the day? Or are we too conscious of the potential pit falls now? Any opinions?

In the era of target training, it is really hard to defend decreasing familiarity with most captive animal species. Removing the stress of human contact through exposure is, IMO, a far greater benefit to physical and behavioural health than trying to minimise it through limited interactions. From a safety point of view, I think no keeper should ever be pushed to take risks. I think that elephants and big cats are very different from primates, but also that orang utans and gorillas are very different from chimpanzees. I found it incredibly sad to see the documentary with Anna Ryder-Richardson where she disclosed that she had built up a bond with the male siamang in her care by going in with him, only to learn that this was not standard practice and was advised to stop doing so. Some zoos allow keeper to enter capuchin enclosures, others do not. Kilverstone had a well-publicised attack on a keeper by one of its capuchin groups in the 80s, this was after an experienced keeper had entered the island every day for many years. There have been several, quite severe attacks by Malayan tapirs on keepers over the years, yet Port Lympne go in with theirs. So whether it is appopriate I think is very subjective.

On the subject of Chessington, I don't believe any zoo should suddenly attempt going in with their gorillas, I was certainly intrigued by the comments of the keeper though. There are obviously only very brief windows where this sort of interaction would be possible, I imagine there would have been some possibility of this at London when Kesho arrived, however it is unthinkable that any 'prominent' zoological institutions would act unilaterally in that way. However, what I saw as a child in Kent was truly magical and sadly is unlikely to be repeated. However, I never thought I'd see the kind of interaction with Orang-Utans now seen at Monkey World.

 

[Pertinax]

. Some zoos allow keeper to enter capuchin enclosures, others do not. Kilverstone had a well-publicised attack on a keeper by one of its capuchin groups in the 80s, this was after an experienced keeper had entered the island every day for many years. There have been several, quite severe attacks by Malayan tapirs on keepers over the years, yet Port Lympne go in with theirs. So whether it is appopriate I think is very subjective.

I don't believe any zoo should suddenly attempt going in with their gorillas, There are obviously only very brief windows where this sort of interaction would be possible,

However, I never thought I'd see the kind of interaction with Orang-Utans now seen at Monkey World.

Interesting comments. I do know that in various zoos (across the World) there have been attacks by Monkeys and Gibbons on keepers, often as at Kilverstone after a keeper had regularly entered a 'trusted' animals cage without incident for years. It seems there are many slight changes(e.g. to environment, mood, behaviour or appearance of keeper etc) which could trigger such an attack which is often extremely short and swift but often inflicting nasty slashing wounds with the canine teeth.

Gorillas- I believe at Howletts the adult males they were able to 'go in with' were all males that had grown up there and were used to this type of contact from a very early age, and on a regular basis. So the fact they were now silverbacks was never actually 'noticed' by either carers or the Gorillas! But it didn't always work as some were unable to 'tone down their play' (Bitam-John Aspinall's words) or became untrustworthy(Gugis). Two males Djoum and Mumbah grew up together and he continued to go in with Djoum as a silverback whereas they couldn't with Mumbah- he told me he was just 'too strong' for them. So I think it was largely a case of which males could contain their own strength. The only other place I know of that did this was Basel where the keeper went in with their first male Steffi (see photo in Men And Apes; Desmond Morris) as again he was gentle, but I think even that stopped after they established them as a proper group. Interestingly JA could have got the original concept of relating to an adult male like that directly from seeing it at Basel, as he had good contacts with them and his first male Kulu(which later died) came from there.

With adult females its usually safe- even with unfamiliar ones. 'Lomie' who lived at London Zoo 1970/80's had never been 'gone in with' as an adult at London but when she was moved to Howletts it was into Djoum's group and he was the 'star' male so suddenly people were going in the enclosure with her. While the other Gorillas gathered around, she just 'stayed off' up in the top of the cage and avoided any interaction, and they respected that.

Orangutans- Many zoos have regularly gone in with females and immature males but I know of two zoos where keepers have even regularly enter(ed) the enclosure with an adult padded male and fed it by hand; London, 1960's Bornean male 'Charlie,' La Boissiere, France, Sumatran male 'Major' and there may well be others- yet normally such animals are regarded as hugely dangerous and have attacked or even killed people. With the females too its very much an individual thing- some are gentle (e.g. Anne at Bristol), but some can be very aggressive.

I think with all these adult animals its becoming an increasingly rarer occurrence due to the Health and Safety Issues.