Text 12937, 56 rader
Skriven 2005-05-26 10:12:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOHN HULL
Ärende: Participation in this ech
=================================
On 05-25-05, JOHN HULL said to ED HULETT:


JH>There used to be an old silverback gorilla at the San Diego Zoo back when
JH>I lived there (maybe Tim can tell us if he's still alive).  They had an


Another `character' they had at the local zoo at one time was an Orangutang
named Ken Allen.


He was a very large animal. He used to escape from his enclosure on a pretty
regular basis, come out onto the walk-ways and mingle with the tourists. He'd
even amble over to a bench or curb someone was sitting on, and sit down beside
them and just sit there watching people go by.


He'd never harm anyone, or even become agitated. He'd just get out of his
enclosure, mingle in the crowd, and amble along with the flow of people
traffic, taking in the sights.


Every time they coaxed him back into his enclosure, they'd confine him inside
for a week or two while they made his area `escape proof', then they'd let him
back out in the open enclosure again.


It wouldn't be long before Ken Allen would either defeat whatever `escape
proof' improvement they had made, or easily come up with an entire `new' way
to get out. And out he'd come, mingle with the crowds, sit around on the
benches, and so forth.


They even had some asshole who was supposed to be an `animal psychologist' of
some kind watching Ken Allen to see `when' it was studying ways to get out,
and `divining' what the animal had planned (I'm not joking). although the
person did manage to thwart one or two escapes, Ken Allen always came up with
a `new' way to surprise the staff.


Now, an Orangutang is a very large animal. And this one was one of the largest
in captivity. Docile or not, they are very powerful, very dangerous animals if
they get pissed off. And it was only a matter of time before some idiot would
do something that would piss this one off and it would hurt or kill somebody.


So since they didn't seem to be able to defeat its ability to get out of its
enclosure (almost any time it chose), I think they got rid of it. They traded
it to another zoo that had an enclosure it couldn't get out of.


It was sad, in that it took away one of the few sources of local amusement.

---
*Durango b301 #PE* corrupts)
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)