In San Francisco Zoo, a 15-month female baby gorilla, called Kabibe, died after being pressed by a hydraulic door that was being closed to hold the entire family of gorillas in the dorms.

This is a common practice, as reported by us numerous times. All zoos in the world tend to lock,  up for 15-16 hours per day, all their primates and big cats in the dorms after the closing of the park.

Generally they do not feed them all day, to force them, through hunger, to get into those reduced cubicles, where they are condemned to spend more than 2/3 of the day.

In natural life, all primates feed during the day and rest at night; in zoos, their biology is altered, since they do not eat during the day, only at night, as a way to encourage them to enter the closed area. This set of doors – opening and closing – that primates hate deeply, because it limits their freedom of movement, which is already insufficient for the living in small spaces, is worsened with the struggle between keepers and animals, who force them to do things they do not want.

The price of this is the absurd death of a baby gorilla, who could have a life a thousand times better, out of any zoo, which are totally anachronistic and overcome in today’s world.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International