On 9 April, at the Pairi Daiza zoo park in Brugelette in Wallonia, a gorilla attacked and killed a small monkey named Fito in front of horrified onlookers, according to a Belgian publication RTL.
The over-150kg gorilla, which everyone in the park calls Navibu, attacked the small monkey who was reported to have provoked the gorilla in the first place. According to Zoo Director Tim Bouts, the monkey “pretended to attack Navibu to provoke him.”
In response, the gorilla bit and killed the small monkey named Fito.
Fito was a black-crested mangabey monkey, native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. The black-crested mangabey is typically only around 15 to 35 inches in size. In comparison, Western Lowland Gorillas stand around 1.6 metres tall, more than double the size of the mangabey.
Zookeepers were unable to separate the two primates in time and the small monkey quickly died of its injuries.
"We arrived too late," Bouts lamented.
Questions are now being raised as to why the two monkeys species were sharing their enclosure in the first place. Pairi Daiza’s own website notes that the Western Lowland Gorilla “can be aggressive if it feels threatened.”
The park’s director denies any wrongdoing and insists that no mistakes were made by the park’s zookeepers.
“Like in all modern zoos, we try to put different species in the same enclosure. . .these two species are used to living together. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens when you work with animals,” Bouts said.
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The park director also highlighted the importance of putting animals in enclosures together. He states that separating the two species would “deprive them of precious enrichment for their development and their well-being.”
Fito leaves behind his female mate and a baby, who have been moved to a nearby enclosure. The park plans to reintroduce the monkeys into the gorilla enclosure in the near future.
Pairi Diaza has been voted “best zoo in Europe” for three years in a row. To date, no serious allegations have ever been made against the park, which is considered to care for its animals well.
