We found him in the wagon of a traveling circus in a small town in Minas Gerais state in the company of a big black bear, with whom he shared that improvised home. His name was Bob. We brought him with his friend bear to the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba.

On the first day in his enclosure, when he went out to the open area and saw his neighbors, Jeber and Tyson, he made an obscene gesture, as his greeting. After a while, he became friends through the window with Tyson, but Jeber has always been his disaffection.

A year ago, the duo of country singers Teodoro and Sampaio found that Bob was with us. They insisted on visiting him and recalling their work together when Bob was part of the circus. Teodoro was thrilled to see him, because for a time they traveled together all over Brazil. A TV channel covered the visit at the time. Watch the video here (in Portuguese).

Bob has always been a loner. Months ago we were able to provide him a partner. Margaret, mother of chimpanzees Emilio and Noel, who are with us since their childhood, and several other children who were stolen in zoos in which she lived, joined Bob. They were very similar – small chimpanzees, toothless (taken out in circuses) – and got on very well in the few months they lived together.

Bob was a fan of milk. Every day we took him a one-liter-bottle and he asked us to open in his presence. We do not know why Bob did not open any packaging of juices, soft drinks or yoghurts. He asked us to open them all; an unusual thing, since chimps learn to open all packages in a second.

Sometimes when I came with the first meal of the morning, he  was waiting for me with a bottle of juice or soda, some of the previous day, and gave them to me to open in his presence.

A month ago, Bob began to eat less, sometimes did not even drink his milk. The mucous membranes of his mouth were whitened; he was anesthetized, we took blood and found that he had profound anemia. A tumor was already outlined in his abdomen and in two weeks he was already skin and bones. He did not eat anything, we had to give the food in his mouth, he did not move, the pain must had been intense, the tumor had already invaded his digestive system. We had to give him intravenous analgesics to alleviate his pain. On January 5, he could not resist and left this world, which made him so unhappy. Bob was approximately 30 years old and has never been a real chimpanzee. He lived exploited by humans who made him work and suffer to enjoy an insane world.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian

President, GAP Project International