When Suzi was a little bit more of one year old, we started to take her a few days in the month to the forested area of Sorocaba Sanctuary, where her parents spent a lot of hours when they were babies and pre-teens.  She climbed the trees , walked everywhere , but we had to always be behind her, due to hazards such as bees, wasps , spiders , snakes , hedgehogs , which were unusual years ago when polluting industries had not come so close to kill the forest and its continuity.

Guga’s  group, as we called it, was Emilio, Noel, Samantha, Carlos and Claudio, apart from Guga . For years, we were in a van with all of them, along with a handler, we spent two hours with them there.

That area of forest is full of mango, guava and jabuticaba trees and has a small river crossing  it, where they also went to play. During 7-8 years, we did that routine four times a week and no chimpanzee ever stay behind. When we spoke “let’s go” , all were distributed in the van , sometimes fighting , as many wanted to go ahead and returned to their enclosures. There is no doubt that chimpanzees behave differently from other primates, which tend to escape and disappear if got loose in an area. Chimpanzees have an intrinsic value they place on an imaginary scale they have in their mind and conclude that life is safer, pleasant, better and more peaceful in the enclosures, than venturing into unknown areas where hazards can be even fatal.

Suzi liked her half hour of freedom , and the tour we did with her car throughout Sanctuary so she could meet some of her neighbors , whom she hears , but cannot see.

Suzi is extremely curious, was stuck on the car window, watching every detail of what she saw and her eyes were alert.  In the forest, in a few minutes she ran a great area of the forest, which has different sectors , as the access to the river, which is covered with trees and has no way to get there .

Jimmy and her sister Sarah were concerned, as long as she had not left the enclosure since Peter Singer’s visit in August last year. Sara, who began to cry when Suzi left, was exceedingly glad when she returned , the same with her adoptive father , Jimmy, who takes good care of her.

Suzi returned to her origins, like her parents, Samantha and Emilio, who, undoubtedly, have recorded on their excellent memory those moments of freedom they enjoy unforgettably.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President , GAP Project International

Images of Suzi in the woods at Sorocaba Great Apes Sanctuary – SP – Brazil