‘Surreal’ killing of 4 chimpanzees prompts zoologist to reconsider ties with Swedish zoo
As it happens6:30‘Surreal’ killing of 4 chimpanzees prompts zoologist to reconsider ties with Swedish zoo
Cognitive zoologist Mathias Osvath cannot wrap his head around why Furuvik Zoo fatally shot four of Sweden’s beloved chimpanzees.
Linda, Santino, Torsten and Manda broke out of their enclosure on Wednesday and were on the loose inside the zoo’s “ape house”. Furuvik Zoo was closed to the public and the temperature was around -15 degrees, but it took days for the zoo to get the situation under control.
Along with the chimpanzees, there were other monkeys, reptiles and animals in the cold building waiting for zookeepers to give them food and water. But instead, the zoo ordered the chimpanzees to be killed.
“I was a little shocked because it seemed so surreal,” Osvath said As it happens presenter Nil Köksal. “I couldn’t understand why that would be necessary, or if there was something extremely unfortunate that had happened.”
The situation was “extremely serious and tragic, both for our animals and our employees,” according to a statement from the zoo. They said they didn’t know how the chimpanzees got out. The staff at the zoo considered the chimpanzees to be dangerous and decided that they must be euthanized. In an FAQ published on its websiteThe zoo said the tranquilizer was not used over concerns for staff safety.
A spokesperson for the group that runs the zoo, Annika Troselius, tells SVT: “We have to think of people’s lives and safety first. No employees are allowed to work in close contact with animals like this.”
As it happens contacted Furuvik Zoo for comment but did not hear back before deadline.
Furuvik Zoo is located near Gävle, which is 165 kilometers north of Stockholm and is part of an amusement park. According to the zoo’s website, it is also the only primate research station in the Nordics.
Osvat studied the chimpanzees in Furuvik closely for several years, and he says he is not convinced by the zoo’s argument.
“They shot a three-year-old chimpanzee and a three-year-old chimpanzee [does] didn’t pose any lethal threat at all … yet they thought it did, which shows to me that maybe they don’t have the right skills,” the zoologist said.
Santino’s illustrious career
The chimpanzees were famous in Sweden for their TV appearances – their former zookeeper regularly interacted with them in children’s programmes. But 45-year-old Santino was also popular with researchers.
“[Santino] gave me one of my nicknames, The One Chimp Guy, because I did an almost impossible thing,” Osvat said. “It’s to publish this study based on one subject, and the method I used was very unorthodox and yet it had this impact .”
Before he became old and weak, Santino threw stones at visitors in what the zoologist called “typical male chimpanzees.” He began collecting these rocks in the morning, before the zoo opened to visitors, and placed them in small piles.
By watching Santino, Osvath saw the chimpanzee calmly plan and plan for the moments when he wasn’t so calm later in the day, during his outbursts.
It wasn’t the first study to make an impact how society thinks about chimpanzees and what they can do, but it became a clear example of their ability to plan like humans.
Santino went on to be part of further research, including an Ig Nobel Prize-winning study for anthropology in 2018which suggested that Furuvik Zoo’s chimpanzees were just as likely to imitate their human visitors as the other way around.
Santino’s blood was also used in a study by this year’s Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo. In 2002, the researcher’s work helped identify genetic differences between humans and primates.
“It’s very sad because he probably would have died soon anyway, but not like this,” Osvath said.
“We need to find out exactly what happened”: Osvath
When Linda was rescued from poachers in Liberia by Swedish diplomats, she was believed to be between six and nine years old.
Osvat said they shot her mother for the bushmeat trade, probably while she was carrying Linda. The poachers may have intended to sell the young chimpanzee, Osvath believes, but she was rescued and brought to Sweden.
“The irony is, of course, that she was shot in Sweden, with a youth on her back.”
Three chimpanzees remain at Furuvik Zoo, including a dominant male.
As of Monday, according to the zoo, the chimpanzees are showing signs of recovery from the cold weather. They are treated medically and eat.
The zoo also shared details about one of the chimpanzees, Selma, who has injuries to an arm and an eye. She has started to move her arm and fingers and the swelling in her eye has reduced.
Osvath argued that the chimps would be better off, in terms of dominance and hierarchy, if they were integrated into a group with younger chimps at another sanctuary or zoo.
He also thinks about his own research, as head of the Cognitive Zoology Group at Lund University, and the university’s long-term research collaboration with the zoo. That cooperation was put on hold this weekend, in the aftermath of the shooting.
“We need to find out exactly what happened and if they did something wrong – and if it’s ethical to continue working there.”