Charles is one of the largest chimpanzees we host in GAP Sorocaba Sanctuary. He came from Ribeirão Preto Zoo voluntarily, because the zoo considered that submitting him to public exhibition could end in tragedy. Charles mutilated himself, especially in times of school holidays and weekends, when the volume of public increased and people did not leave him alone, harassing him in his little room.

Charles does not like me. Why? Hard to explain. It was hate at first sight. The day after his arrival, I went to see him, put my shoes next to him and he tried to pull my foot along with the shoes. More recently, he planned and managed to catch me. For weeks he appeared to be more friendly and dropped my guard with him. One day I put some juice in his tray and he managed to grab my left arm, tried to introduce it through the hole of the screen to possibly pull it out. Luckily he finished taking my jacket and not my arm. On the other hand, Charles is very kind with the attendants and veterinaries. The problem with me is personal.

When Charles arrived, we put him together with Francis and Quennie, "the Bolivian females", as we call them, since they came from a zoo in La Paz that was planning to do euthanasia because they had no money to feed them. Dr. Miguel Vaudano, GAP Adjunt Coordinator, travelled to Bolivia to convince the council of the capital to deliver them to GAP. This happened more than seven years ago. Francis  and Quennie arrived in Bolivia coming from a North American Zoo and both suffered  a lot in United States and Bolivia.

When we put them with to Charles, they lived well for several months. But one day Quennie appeared deeply wounded in her buttock, due to a bite of Charles. Perhaps Charles has tried to copulate with her and failed, as he proves to be impotent. He took anti-depressants to combat self-mutilation. We had to separate them. For several years, they were related through the window of both venues, but there was no possibility of Charles assaulted them again. Unfortunately, Quennie just died a few months ago.

Francis is more sweet and delicate than Quennie, including with humans. After several months of observation since Quennie was gone, we opened the doors of the enclosures and put them back together. They  Have been together for over a month and are relating very well. They share food and visit one another in each one’s enclosure. We keep putting food in both indoor and open dormitories, in order to preserve their territorial area. Interestingly, at bedtime, in most cases, each one sleeps in his own bedroom and rarely they share the same environment.

Charles is calmer, including with me, now that he is accompanied. Solitary chimpanzees have a lot of problems and, as it is with humans, loneliness should be avoided whenever it is possible.

Dr. Pedro Ynterian

President, GAP Project International