After Bally and Limbo survived the fire in the Krefeld Zoo almost unscathed, the two chimpanzees were supposed to move to another zoo. But that didn’t work. Now there is a new plan.
Krefeld (dpa / lnw) – Two and a half years after the fatal fire in the monkey house, the excavators are moving in at the Krefeld Zoo. The outdoor enclosure for the two chimpanzees Bally and Limbo who stayed in the zoo is being built. Krefeld’s zoo director Wolfgang Dreßen will present the project on Wednesday (2 p.m.). The 48-year-old female chimpanzee and the 29-year-old male survived the devastating fire on New Year’s Eve 2020 largely unscathed. Since then, they have been housed in a separate area that cannot be seen by visitors. Animal rights activists criticize the attitude.
Eight great apes died in the fire caused by a sky lantern: several gorillas and orangutans and a chimpanzee. A gorilla family was housed apart and survived the fire.
Originally, Bally and Limbo were to be given to a zoo in Denmark as part of the European Conservation Breeding Program for West African Chimpanzees. There they could have been integrated into a socially appropriate group. But: “After some negotiations, the Danish zoo rejected it because the facility there had to be modified first,” said a zoo spokeswoman. The zoo wants to build a new house for chimpanzees and gorillas with outdoor facilities in the future monkey park species protection center.
