CINCINNATI, OH — The Cincinnati Zoo wants its gorilla back. Ndume, 37, was a companion to the famous Koko, an extraordinary master of sign language, and her death at The Gorilla Foundation sanctuary last summer put the silverback in the middle of a custody fight and a debate over how great ape welfare is best served.
The Cincinnati Zoo is moving forward with its lawsuit to return the silverback to Ohio after mediation failed to resolve the dispute. Ndume spent his first 10 years at the Cincinnati Zoo, but also lived briefly at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago before he was transferred in 1991 to The Gorilla Foundation’s sanctuary and language research lab in Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Francisco.
Zoos move endangered species like gorillas around for mating under what’s called a Species Survival Program. Ndume, born in 1981 and hand-raised like Koko, was already the father of three when Koko “selected Ndume from a number of available males, via ‘video dating,’ ” The Gorilla Foundation said on its website.
But the relationship fizzled. The Gorilla Foundation speculated at the time the main reason Koko and Ndume didn’t hit it off is that in the wild, there are multiple females for each male and Koko has never had the support of additional females.
After Koko died on June 19, 2018, The Gorilla Foundation said it was working to establish a natural gorilla family for Ndume “to augment his human (great ape) support group, some of whom have been with him for 27 years.” They include Dr. Penny Patterson, the animal psychologist who taught Koko to communicate using a modified form of American Sign Language that she calls “Gorilla Sign Language.”
Ndume is the only gorilla remaining at the sanctuary. Michael, the first so-called talking gorilla, died in 2000 of heart failure due to fibrosing cardiomyopathy, and now lives in isolation, a terrible fate for Ndume, according to Kristen Lukas, who chairs the Gorilla Species Survival Program that oversees the care of the more than 350 gorillas in 50 Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoos.
Lukas and the Cincinnati Zoo says that Ndume was only on loan and that the agreement with The Gorilla Foundation was that after Koko’s death, the silverback would returned to an Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institution — in this case, the Cincinnati Zoo.
The Cincinnati Zoo filed a lawsuit in October 2018 to bring Ndume home. A federal judge ordered the two sides to mediation, and after those talks apparently broke down — neither side is allowed to publicly discuss what happened — the zoo filed additional court documents Thursday in San Francisco, Cincinnati Public Radio station WXVU reports.
Although Ndume never mastered the ability to communicate with humans as Koko did, he has made clear he doesn’t want to be on public display, The Gorilla Foundation argues on its website, noting that the silverback regularly flung feces and regurgitated food at visitors at the Cincinnati and Brookfield zoos.
Only after he was transferred to The Gorilla Foundation did those “stress behaviors subside,” the organization wrote.
Transferring him back to the zoo would force Ndume, “now a somewhat elderly gorilla … to endure the rigors of transport and once again face the stressful zoo conditions he could not tolerate as a young gorilla,” those who want to keep the silverback claim.
Not only that, The Gorilla Foundation argues, relocation could be deadly for Ndume, as he he carries an incurable parasitic infection common among zoo gorillas that could exacerbated by stress.
The GSSP’s Lukas said those concerns were taken into consideration, but it was decidedthe benefits of returning Ndume to Cincinnati, where he would live with other gorillas, outweighs the risks.
“Common sense and scientific evidence contradict TGF’s claim. We’ve successfully managed 160 gorilla transfers to and from (AZA-accredited) zoos over the last decade,” Lukas said in a statement. “Moving gorillas is a safe and necessary aspect of ensuring proper socialization, maximizing animal welfare, and enriching the lives of all gorillas in human care.”
Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard told WVXU that the zoo’s curator of primates, Ron Evans, has experience treating such conditions, and “in terms of the question of health, it’s much better for Ndume to live here in a group of other gorillas under professional management and professional veterinary care than it is to live all by himself in California.”
Like Lukas, Maynard said zoos regularly move animals back and forth for breeding without incident.
“Our zoo has moved gorillas back and forth for those same reasons many times,” Maynard told the radio station. “We take that very seriously and we handle it very carefully. The reason we’re going through this whole thing is we’re committed to Ndume’s well-being.”
The Gorilla Foundation claims the AZA and GSSP have blocked its efforts to bring more gorillas to its sanctuary and language research center.
“Plus, given their existing gorilla family groups and Ndume’s age, the only safe way for the Zoo to keep him is likely to be in isolation — near other gorillas, but separate from them,” The Gorilla Foundation argues. “The frustration associated with such solitary confinement would be intolerable for Ndume.”
The Gorilla Foundation said it was willing to work with the Cincinnati Zoo to determine how to best care for the aging gorilla, but when the zoo “refused to even address the subject, much less answer questions about how they could safely integrate Ndume into their existing gorilla population, it became clear that they are far less concerned about the care of Ndume and much more interested in removing him from TGF.”
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The Gorilla Foundation claims that the AZA and Cincinnati Zoo’s court filings make clear they are “concerned about public awareness of the sentient and sensitive nature of high-level mammals, like gorillas, chimps, elephants, orcas and dolphins.”
“This public awareness led to the demise of Ringling Brothers, the removal of orcas and dolphins from public exhibition, laws preventing the use of bull hooks to control elephants, and the public outpouring of love and support for Koko …”
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Evans said in a statement that the Cincinnati Zoo and GSSP cared deeply for Koko and respected the need for gorillas to be around other gorillas.
“Despite Koko and Ndume not cohabitating, they were aware of the other’s presence, and we didn’t have the heart to bring Ndume home to Cincinnati and leave Koko completely isolated from other gorillas,” Evans said. “Being around other gorillas is a foundation natural history need and although humans can help gorillas along on their life journey they are no replacement for the company of other gorillas.
“It is sad and ironic that The Gorilla Foundation is now not honoring its agreement and is willing to keep Ndume from joining a great social community of gorillas at Cincinnati.”
PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — has filed a friend of the court brief in support of the Cincinnati Zoo.
“PETA is extremely concerned about Ndume’s well-being at TGF given its lack of accreditation and transparency, its well-documented history of chronic animal welfare violations, and its solitary confinement of Ndume,” PETA wrote in the court filing.
The group noted in November that Ndume has been isolated in a trailer, and that The Gorilla Foundation “has racked up so many animal-welfare violations for unsafe conditions for both gorillas and staff members, as well as inadequate veterinary care, that no North American gorilla facility would consider moving a grilla there.”
The Gorilla Foundation has asked a judge to deny PETA’s amicus brief.
“Both their coordinated public attack on TGF and their coordinated filing in this case, make it clear that in reality, PETA is working as an ally of [the zoo], not an advocate for Ndume,” the foundation wrote.
The next hearing in the case is Jan. 24, but a judge could decide it before then.
The Cincinnati Zoo has been caring for gorillas since 1931, including the silverback Harambe, shot and killed in 2016 after a 3-year-old boy fell into his den. The gorilla’s death reignited a debate about the captivity of sentient great apes.
Photo: In the wild, a gorilla social group would include many females and one silverback, such as this one photographed in Virunga National Park in Eastern Congo in 2007. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Edit by Getty Images)