Orangutan Stages Brilliant Zoo Jailbreak

Karta the orangutan got sick of being cooped up in a zoo and decided to stage a jailbreak in what has been called an ‘elaborate plot’ involving short-circuited wires and a makeshift ladder. On Sunday, authorities were forced to shut down the Adelaide Zoo in Australia after a visitor noticed the 27-year-old orangutan climbing a concrete and glass fence meant to keep her separate from the public.

From News.com.au:

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead said Karta had twisted a stick into hot wires that encircled her enclosure, short circuiting the wires and allowing her to enter a vegetated area near the concrete and glass fence that separated her from the public.

She then piled up sticks, grass and plant roots and used them to climb onto the fence.

”You’re talking about an animal that’s highly intelligent, Mr Whitehead said.

”We’ve had issues with her before in normal day to day operations where she tries to outsmart the keepers.

”So in this case she’s decided to make a ladder and try to get out of her exhibit.”

Mr Whitehead said Karta was on the fence for about half an hour before climbing back down into the exhibit.

Whitehead says he thinks Karta finally realized she was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be, and that’s why she dropped back into the exhibit – but maybe it’s because she didn’t want to get shot by the staff standing by with tranquilizer guns.

Orangutans and other primates – and thousands of other species in the animal kingdom – are way smarter than humans like to think. We don’t give these creatures enough credit. I’m glad Karta didn’t have to get shot, but perhaps her brave escape plot will open some people’s eyes to this fact.

Link [News.com.au]
Image credit: marcoha.com

Great Apes Achieve Rights on Par with Humans in Spain

Exciting news for animal rights activists! Spain, known more for bull fighting than for animal rights, recently approved resolutions that would give great apes the right to life and freedom. This is the first time any such legislature has been approved for non-humans.

From Reuters:

Parliament’s environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

“This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity,” said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

“We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening,” Pozas said.

It will now be illegal and punishable by law to keep apes for circuses, television or filming. It will not become illegal to keep the 315 apes currently in Spanish zoos in captivity, but the bill will require conditions in the zoos to drastically improve.

When I first heard this story I had visions of apes walking around the streets with glasses on, or standing behind the counter at a coffee shop. I’d SO get my drink on there, though it might be a bit unsanitary.

Link [Reuters]

Brought in for Sport, Gibraltar’s ‘Nuisance’ Barbary Apes now Set to be Killed

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!” Oh, for the love of Charlton Heston.

Barbary macaques, thought to have been introduced to Gibraltar in the 18th century by British soldiers for use as target practice, are now finding themselves in danger once again after becoming ‘nuisances’.

From the Telegraph:

Ernest Britto, Gibraltar’s tourist minister, defended the plans for the cull, saying: “Children are frightened. People cannot leave their windows open for fear of the monkeys stealing. “Apes can bite, and contact with them runs the risk of salmonella or hepatitis.”

Vets are to track down the tearaways and put them down by lethal injection. Two have already been killed.

When will we ever learn? Humans eff with nature and get burned. It happens again and again, and yet each time we’re surprised. I find it sort of funny but ultimately sad that these people are indignant about apes acting like, well, apes. As if it wouldn’t be more shocking if they started donning trousers and politely tipping their hats at people saying, ‘Good day, m’lady’. Cause, I think the heretofore mentioned legendary actor illustrated brilliantly what would come about if that were the case in the classic ‘Planet of the Apes’.

Link [Telegraph]

Photo: Fox Home Entertainment