Chapultepec Zoo, in Mexico City, announced on July 23^rd , in a statement, the death of orangutan Jambi, who, along with his brother Toto, lived for more than 24 years in the zoo. Recently it has been denied their transfer to the Sanctuary of the Great Apes of Sorocaba, affiliated with the GAP project.

The Director of GAP Mexico, Paulina Bermudez, called on Sunday the 26th people to go in front of the Zoo to protest the untimely death of Jambi, born in 1990 and living in depressed state by the inhumane conditions of the enclosure he shared with his brother Toto, a year younger.

A few months ago, GAP Mexico started a campaign to transfer both orangutans to the sanctuary in Brazil. The campaign was attended for two weeks by the director of GAP Project Spain, Pedro Pozas Terrado, who joined the request of GAP Mexico for their transfer. Both brothers were in a enclosure where they had no access to sunlight, without possibilities to work out.

The cause of the death, according to the zoo, should be a pancreatitis, but only the autopsy report will approach the real reason of his death.

Both brothers were born at the zoo in 1990 and 1991, sons of Godi (father), who was a species of Borneo, and mother Leia, from Sumatra, both deceased.

GAP Mexico campaign came to gather 100,000 signatures calling for the release of the two unfortunate orangutans and their shipment to Brazil, but the director of the Zoo, Arthur Rivera, completely denied the rescue, considering they were in a suitable enclosure.

The death of the first orangutan already signs the possible death of his brother, in the immediate future, if Toto is not rescued from that death zoo.

Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International