Cincinnati Zoo sues for return of Koko’s gorilla companion

Associated Press

CINCINNATi

The Cincinnati Zoo is suing for the return of a gorilla loaned to a California conservatory as a companion for Koko, the late gorilla famed for mastering sign language.

In a complaint filed Thursday against The Gorilla Foundation, attorneys for the Cincinnati Zoo said Ndume, a 37-year-old silverback gorilla, has lived in isolation to his detriment since Koko’s death in June.

The zoo sent Ndume to the foundation in 1991 under a contract that was revised to say he would be transferred after Koko’s death. In the months that followed, the Gorilla Species Survival Plan recommended Ndume move back to the zoo where he was born.

The zoo’s complaint alleges the foundation violated the contract when they refused to coordinate Ndume’s planned return.

Francine Patterson, an animal psychologist who cared for Koko and co-founder of The Gorilla Foundation, wrote in a September letter addressed to zoo officials that a move would harm Ndume by causing unnecessary stress. She said it would also exacerbate an “ongoing suffering after the loss of Koko.”

A federal judge in San Francisco will decide Ndume’s future.