Ever since the baby gorilla was killed at London Zoo earlier in the year, I have stopped enjoying visiting, and from every two weeks, my trips have been down to every month or longer. Only the arrival of the lion cubs has made me a bit happier to go there.
But I have never stopped gathering information about what happened on that terrible day. By talking to keepers across the zoo, and volunteers, I have discovered how the keepers who witnessed it still see the attack whenever they close their eyes and try to sleep. I have been told that the Director of the zoo insisted on the introduction of the baby to the new male against the advice of keepers. I have found out that the new male is known to be sterile because of a genetic abnormality, so the breeding females will have no more babies.
Twice I have sent messages to the zoo, and twice I have been ignored. Today I have gone over their heads, and contacted an international organisation concerned with the breeding of Western Lowland Gorillas. I hope they can bring pressure to bear to force out the man who caused the baby to be murdered. I don't suppose they will have the courage to put him in with the male and see how he likes being beaten to death.