The chimpanzee Yoko kidnapped a baby and was then raised by the poisonous lord and eventually kidnapped at the Columbia Zoo, while the chimpanzee Yoko lived only for the last two years of his life.
He lost his last friend Chita when he fled the zoo (Yoko’s opponent) with Pancho in 2023, and the couple was shot dead by soldiers for human security.
Yoko, 38, was flew to Brazil on Sunday, and finally joined his others at the sanctuary there.
But will he make friends?
His caregivers say there are more Yoko than chimpanzees. He uses knives and forks, plays balls, watches TV, and makes artworks with crayons and canvases.
He likes to eat candy and chicken.
His kidnapper feeds junk food – a Nalco dealer whose name has not been leaked – Yoko has only four teeth left. Chimpanzees are like humans, destined to have 32.
In the 1990s, it was common for Nalco owners (such as Pablo Escobar) to keep exotic animals as pets, including tigers and lions, and even hippos and giraffes.
Yoko was taught to smoke and dress up in human clothes – causing him to suffer from skin diseases and lose part of his fur.
“Yoko…is a highly humane chimpanzee with a very tame…he basically acts like a child,” said veterinarian Javier Guerrero.
The veterinarian accompanied Yoko in the first part of the journey, known as “Operation Ark of Noah”, from the zoo Ukumari Bipark in the Colombian city of Pereira.
– Smile is not smile –
Experts worry Yoko may find it difficult to adapt to other chimpanzees in Sorocaba, São Paulo state, Brazil – the largest great ape reserve in Latin America.
There are more than 40 other chimpanzees out there, but veterinarians and animal behaviorists worry that Yoko may not be suitable.
“Yoko… is not a strict chimpanzee…he is an animal that knows humans,” said Cesar Gomez, an animal training coordinator in Ukumari.
He said: “Give you a role model, it is a positive thing for humanity.
Yoko spent an unknown time there and was caught by police from his master’s nest in 2017 after he became a flooded shelter in Pereira Zoo.
“He was denied the opportunity to become a chimpanzee and grow up with his family,” assistant Vet Alejandra Marin told AFP.
Chimpanzees die in the wild in natural homes in Africa, about 40 or 45 years old. They are social, group animals, and are imprisoned with caution that they can live up to 60.
Chimpanzees are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The NGO Great Ape Project said that with Yoko’s transfer Sunday, Colombia became the first country in the world to get rid of the totally captured Great Ape.
“The Great Apes are chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas and bob bones – none of these species are endemic to our country, and they have no reason to come here.”
She added: “From a very young age, Yoko was a victim of trafficking and trade, moving from one drug trafficker to another.”
On Monday morning, Padilla posted on X the Yoko landing in Brazil, “safe and stable, about to start a new life with his peers”.
DAS/LV/SP/NN/MLR/BGS/AHA
