Days ago I offered to chimp Emilio coconut water and he smiles the way only he knows how. Days ago I was watching Globo TV channel and in the break of a soap opera it was announced the reprise of the soap opera “Caras e Bocas”, and chimpanzee Kate, who played the character Xico, appeared and drafted the same smile.

Emilio is Kate´s brother, who played the role of Xico in the novel. Noel is another brother and also has the same smile. Their mother, Margaret, lived in a zoo when Kate was born and, yet newborn, was sold to Beto Carrero Zoo, in Santa Catarina, south of Brazil.

Shortly after, Margaret moved to a commercial breeder, reproducing chimpanzees who were sold for circuses and zoos. There she had Noel. To prevent him to go to a circus, I bought him and took him to our Sanctuary. Two years later, Emilio was born and I did the same thing. Months later, I also negotiated to buy Margaret, in order to prevent her to continued conceiving and losing children, feeding a pernicious industry of trafficking in primates.

Two years ago, Emilio had a daughter, Suzi , from his union with Samanta , who also came to our Sanctuary when was a baby , along with Noel at the time.

Chimpanzees are social beings, living in family. The destruction of their ties ignites the minds of many who were uprooted from family life rather abruptly and without explanation.

Currently, Kate is still at Beto Carrero Zoo and her entire family – his mother, Margaret , her brothers , Emilio and Noel , and her niece , Suzi , are in Sorocaba Great Apes Sanctuary.

We all know that Globo TV channel has a remarkable power in Brazil. When it wants to achieve a goal, it is always achieved. To join Kate with her family, Globo should just strive to get it. Currently the only obstacle is a decision of Beto Carrero’s son, who, at the time of the novel in question , when the Globo had already reached an agreement with him, heard that Kate was going to our sanctuary in Sorocaba and did not allow her to go , since at that time we were arguing in court the ownership of some of the extinct chimpanzees of Circus Garcia, which we won.

If Globo wants to give an unexpected gift to the main character of the soap opera and its author, it would be to join this family. It would be an awesome end of the story, which had such an audience, as well as for the actors and other people who worked in it.

A new final chapter could be filmed with Kate rediscovering her true family.

Both Globo and Beto Carrero’s image would be marked for all those who defend the environment and its components if this decision was made. And it would be a priceless gift in this coming year.

Join a family of Great Apes would be an example to the world that only watches the destruction of this species. Brazil would mark such a goal!

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President , GAP Project International