After a few weeks of preparation, the largest single rescue that Great Apes and Feline Sanctuary of Sorocaba, affiliated to GAP Project, ever made got started today, October 21^st.  Three chimpanzees, one male and two females, two lionesses are on track to Sorocaba, after being packed in shipping boxes.

The trip was expected to take three days from a private zoo of Hotel Boa Luz, in Sergipe, northeast of Brazil, to Sorocaba, countryside of São Paulo state. But it seems that the truck with the animals will arrive on Thursday, 23^rd , in Sorocaba, one day early. The hotel had a private zoo built over several years, where, in addition to smaller animals and birds, there were three chimpanzees, two lionesses, two bears, two hippos and an elephant.

The management of the hotel concluded that this kind of zoo no longer attracts public and has a high maintenance cost, hence decided to dispose of large animals.

So far the hotel failed to donate the bears, the hippopotamus and the elephant; maybe, with the release of this rescue, some interested candidates appear.

The management National Environmental Institute (Ibama) in Sergipe and the Secretary of Environment of São Paulo contributed to all permissions for transport were adopted quickly enough.

With these new guests, Sorocaba Sanctuary will house 54 chimpanzees, 13 lions, 1 tiger and 3 bears, together with around two hundred monkeys and small birds.

The male chimpanzee, Martin, arrived at the hotel zoo coming from a Breeding Centre in the south of Brazil, which had been closed more than 10 years ago. The females, Jamaica (the younger) and Maria das Dores (the oldest), were purchased from circuses. The lionesses came from circuses.

All animals are in good health conditions and the technical director of hotel zoo, Dr. Fernando Oliveira Almeida, has given invaluable collaboration, so this complicated rescue materializes.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International

 Images of the rescue in the zoo