Keepers battle with fair weather gorilla

Wednesday 12 February 2014

One Islander in particular is taking last week’s storm warnings about not going outdoors a little too seriously.

The recent run of bad weather has presented a problem at Durrell because Badongo, the adult male western lowland gorilla, has been refusing to go outside in the cold and rain so that his keepers can clean out his enclosure.

Durrell’s Communications Officer Rick Jones said most of the animals have been kept inside during the bad weather, only going outside when their enclosures need cleaning out. But he says that Badongo has been refusing to budge.

Mr Jones said: “Bodongo hates the cold, he won’t go outside. When you need to move him to clean his enclosure, you have a battle of wills to get him outside.  They have underfloor heating and heat lamps in their shelter outside and he still doesn’t like that.

“We go to great lengths to make sure the inside enclosures are as comfortable as possible – it doesn’t have to look natural to be comfortable. Silverbacks love overhead cover.”

And it’s not just Badongo, despite their doors being open, the orangutans don’t want to go out in this weather either.

It’s an expensive time for Durrell as heating the animals is one of the charity’s major costs in this sort of weather. Electricity costs the trust £250,000 a year.