A few hours before  October 25 , a Thursday in São Paulo, I received a call around two pm announcing that three chimpanzees of Noel’s group had escaped from their enclosure at  Sorocaba Sanctuary. That day in São Paulo was terrible due to traffic accidents  and there were congestion accumulated for miles since early in the morning.

Getting out of town was as much complicated as convincing the three young chimps, athletic and full of curiosity,  that they should go home . The older keepers – René,  his wife, Nana , and Jurema  – followed their development for years , and managed to stay close to them on their adventure on that Thursday, October 24 .

Jurema, René and Nana

Two years ago, a similar leak had happened during a windy storm, when a tree was leaning against the wall and they managed to  convert it into a ladder and escape. Their enclosure very large, it fit two ZOONITS – the zoo of Niterói city, closed by IBAMA two years ago. We keep the branches cut, but there was sector with nearly 20 feet tall eucalyptus that, in a storm as the last one, did not resist and bent into the enclosure .

The first contact of the group – Noel (16 years old ) , Carlos (13) and Claudio (12 ) , all created by us in the Sanctuary since they were babies – was when we call them to the School, which is the dormitory of Guga’s group . Both treaters were cleaning the tunnel and Noel took the leg of Jurema. When he realized who she was, they began to run . They entered the School, but as the outer door was open, Claudio had gone out and meet the keeper. They never tried to attack anyone. In fact,they wanted to avoid being captured to continue to play and make a mess. Nana and Jurema managed to enter the house, which is all connected with the School, warned other employees and put a new employee in the “panic room” , which is my dorm .

House/School

Nana warned René by phone, who was cleaning a room, and he went to see Tião, the fourth of the group, who had not fled yet . When he was about to try to escape, René called him , offered him a Coke and managed to arrest him. Tião is more complicated, as he is mentally disturbed for having  lived part of his adolescence in a circus.

While all this was happening, I was trying to leave São Paulo, fighting against the hellish traffic. The chimpanzees visited all the enclosures near the house, tidying trouble with those who were inside, who disliked the harassment of Noel and his group. In a moment, they reached the enclosure of the babies. Jimmy, the adoptive father, was desperate. He never imagined having to deal with three young and strong chimpanzees, whom he usually saw in a distance. Noel wanted, maybe, to catch Suzi ( 2 years old), who, in her innocence, was in one of the windows. Jurema was in the hall and came out to divert Noel’s attention. He followed her and forgot to Suzi. She locked herself in the room and called for the babies to leave the windows . Noel, furious, broke two windows with a stone, but was unable to enter.

René, who is with them since their childhood, accompanied them on their visit to the Sanctuary; and they did not walked too much and were only in the area around the house, in the area of the enclosures and the small animals they knew. In a moment Noel sat in front a enclosure of marmosets and tried to open it to loosen them, but could not break the lock .

Noel was the leader of the gang, The veterinary Camila managed, through a window, to throw a dart at Claudio, but he took off and the anesthesia had little effect.

When I arrived , Jurema and Nana had convinced Noel to enter the electric fence used by Guga, which was free, and ran for another door. At this moment I opened the house, since this was what they were interested in. They all passed through the house when they were babies. Carlos did not recognize me right away because I was wearing social clothes, but when I spoke with him, he realized who I was. He sat down, I hugged him and took him home. Then Claudio appeared, who also hugged me. I opened several doors and both entered the house. I closed the doors and stayed with them in there. I took them to my room, which is the “panic room “, which has an entrance to Guga’s enclosure.

School / Electric fence

But then I realized that someone was inside. Marisa, the new employee, was hid in there and they did not know her. I asked Jurema to came into the room and take her out of there, so I could sty with the chimpanzees there, and this happened. They made no mess in the house as we waited to enter the School’s path.

Noel was still on the electric fence when I walked with him and asked to open the tunnel that leads to the School, and he entered. That night they slept in the School, since the next day we had to do some operations in order to take them inside the their original enclosure.

It was never necessary to apply the Alternative Plan, which would be throwing anesthetic with a pistol or a shotgun. We just needed to gain time until I could reach to arrive and convince them to come back, as ot happened . During the whole time of the escape, the rest of the staff were in safe enclosures.  The important thing is that chimpanzees do not meet strangers to feel threatened and react.

They are smart. At no time they went to the sector of the felines or bears,  or to the sector of the Sanctuary where the more disturbed chimpanzees lived, and whom they do not know. They stayed in the familiar territory. After all , when they were babies, they walked daily in the area that toady is full of buildings.

Do not think that such an experience does not affect anyone. One can laugh of the people and the animals reactions now.  We had to lock up the dogs and the cats got rid of being caught on their own. That birthday present that Noel and his group gave me will be the most memorable one, possibly of my life. I do not think in 74 years of life in which I’ve seen a lot of unusual thing, an emotion like that will never happen again.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian
President , GAP Project International