The Chimpanzees at Willowbank
Date: 23 February 2006
Charlie and Samantha are to travel to Australia.
This is the home of two incredible animals, Pan troglodytes or Chimpanzee. Charlie is the name of the male, and he was born in 1969, and was intercepted by Customs being smuggled in from Africa as a baby, and subsequently came to New Zealand from Belgium. His first owner was a showman named Horovan, and Charlie was reared in his house as a child.
On the death of Mr Horovan, Charlie passed to a circus where he entertained crowds until he reached maturity, a stage when all male chimpanzees become dangerous. He was welded into a small cage and spent some years there until being sold to a zoo in Dunedin. There he was introduced to an old female friend called Coco, and a delightful relationship developed. Financial decisions forced the closure of the zoo, and their future looked bleak until Willowbank offered them a home. It is not the intention of Willowbank to maintain chimpanzees and efforts are being made to find a permanent home for them.
In the meantime we endeavour to do our best for what is one of the most difficult animals to keep in captivity. Coco passed away and Charlie now lives with his daughter Samantha.
Mogo Zoo in New South Wales has offered to take the chimps and integrate them in a huge enclosure along with another pair already in Australia.
Fund raising has taken place to help with this travel and at present we are awaiting permits from Australia.
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