The Brazzaville Zoo () is a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

located in

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

. It has been in existence since at least 1944, as this is the most widely accepted date of assembly. They are known to be a very unsanitary zoo, and have extremely low

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

ratings, although this is common across zoos in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. They house a number of species including

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es, and numerous

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

s including

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

s. During the Congolese Civil War, many animals were evacuated from the zoo to numerous zoos, sanctuaries, and preserves across Central Africa.

Gregoire the Chimpanzee

2006-12-09 Chimpanzee Gregoire D Bruyere

Gregoire the

was the record-holder of the oldest chimpanzee in the world. He was first exhibited in the zoo as early as 1944. His first documentation came when

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

visited the zoo in 1990, and saw that Gregoire was suffering from dire

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

and severe

skin infections Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different d ...

. After this encounter, Dr. Goodall intervened, assigning a special caretaker for Gregoire and implementing a diet program. In 1996, Gregoire enclosure received two new chimpanzees in order for him and the other primates to enjoy the company. Soon after, in 1997, the Congolese Civil War escalated, and due to the zoo's proximity to the

Brazzaville International Airport Maya–Maya Airport is the international airport of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. Facilities In 2010, a new long runway and a new terminal with three air bridges were opened. The older runway was repaired and now is used ...

, shelling and gunfire could be heard loudly. Gregoire was known to dive under his sheets as each shell fired. Staff hastily transported many of the zoo's primates to

Pointe Noire Pointe-Noire (; , with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and ...

, and later to a special preserve area in

Tchimpounga The Tchimpounga Sanctuary, also known as the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, for primates is located on a coastal plain of savanna and forest in the Republic of the Congo, and was built in 1992. The site covers an area of . The sanct ...

. At his new home Gregoire found sanctuary, and lived the rest of his life with other chimpanzees and with human love and care. He died in 2008 of old age.

References

{{reflist, 30em Organisations based in Brazzaville