Amos Stevens
New Member
Paul McCartney to give $8000 to chimp
May 20 2003
Paul McCartney will provide the plane fare home for Toto, a chimpanzee smuggled from Africa 23 years ago and forced to perform in a Chilean circus, the El Mercurio daily reported yesterday.
The former Beatle is donating $US8000 ($12,000) through Animal Defenders, a British non-governmental organisation, to finance the trip.
The gift will allow Toto to live out his days peacefully in a Zambian wildlife orphanage, under a court order in an animal cruelty case.
Toto arrived in Chile in 1979, when the Koning circus smuggled him into the country, according to Elba Munoz, who has been caring for Toto at the Primate Recuperation and Rehabilitation Centre of Santiago since late January.
The circus billed him as a gorilla, forcing him to smoke, drink alcohol and act like a boxer for its show, Mr Munoz said.
For two decades, Toto - who is 1.5 metres tall and weighs 70 kilograms - was kept in a cage no larger than one cubic metre with heavy chains around his neck and legs, Mr Munoz said.
The tight confinement caused injuries to his body, and he developed serious reactions to being in constant contact with his own waste.
The circus also castrated him in a bid to keep him under control.
"They showed him no mercy. They wanted to keep him in constant suffering so that he wouldn't attack anyone," Mr Munoz said.
A spectator at the circus originally brought a complaint against Koning seven years ago, after seeing the conditions Toto was kept in.
But Chilean courts were unable to intervene because the circus fled to Bolivia with their chimp.
Earlier this year, authorities discovered that the circus had returned to Chile and they seized Toto on January 29.
The chimp won his freedom in late April when a court ruled that he should be sent to Zambia's Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage. There, he will live in a free-range space at the refuge, which shelters 80 chimpanzees and other mistreated animals.
May 20 2003
Paul McCartney will provide the plane fare home for Toto, a chimpanzee smuggled from Africa 23 years ago and forced to perform in a Chilean circus, the El Mercurio daily reported yesterday.
The former Beatle is donating $US8000 ($12,000) through Animal Defenders, a British non-governmental organisation, to finance the trip.
The gift will allow Toto to live out his days peacefully in a Zambian wildlife orphanage, under a court order in an animal cruelty case.
Toto arrived in Chile in 1979, when the Koning circus smuggled him into the country, according to Elba Munoz, who has been caring for Toto at the Primate Recuperation and Rehabilitation Centre of Santiago since late January.
The circus billed him as a gorilla, forcing him to smoke, drink alcohol and act like a boxer for its show, Mr Munoz said.
For two decades, Toto - who is 1.5 metres tall and weighs 70 kilograms - was kept in a cage no larger than one cubic metre with heavy chains around his neck and legs, Mr Munoz said.
The tight confinement caused injuries to his body, and he developed serious reactions to being in constant contact with his own waste.
The circus also castrated him in a bid to keep him under control.
"They showed him no mercy. They wanted to keep him in constant suffering so that he wouldn't attack anyone," Mr Munoz said.
A spectator at the circus originally brought a complaint against Koning seven years ago, after seeing the conditions Toto was kept in.
But Chilean courts were unable to intervene because the circus fled to Bolivia with their chimp.
Earlier this year, authorities discovered that the circus had returned to Chile and they seized Toto on January 29.
The chimp won his freedom in late April when a court ruled that he should be sent to Zambia's Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage. There, he will live in a free-range space at the refuge, which shelters 80 chimpanzees and other mistreated animals.
Thanks Amos...