A chimp who was sent to a Kenyan sanctuary to learn how to live with apes after spending her whole life with humans has been beaten to death by fellow chimpanzees.
Baran died aged four only months after she was transferred from Eram Park Zoo in the Iranian capital of Tehran to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Laikipia, Kenya.
Baran had completed a 90-day quarantine and was in the second phase of her introduction to the sanctuary.
The tragic chimp managed to break the lock on her area before entering an area housing a chimpanzee family she had been introduced to remotely.
The other chimpanzees then mauled the four-year-old, leaving her badly injured. Zookeepers managed to end the violence but were unable to save Baran who later died from her injuries.
Baran was moved to Kenya in the summer because it was deemed unhealthy for her to continue to live isolated from other chimpanzees.
She was raised by humans after her mum rejected her because she was born prematurely and so more difficult to care for.
Because of this vets took her from her mother and slowly nursed her to strength to the point where they felt she could be returned to her parents.
But by then, the mom no longer accepted the baby and because she rejected her, the rest of the group did as well.
As a result, she was raised away from them and hand fed by zoo vet Eman Memarian.
Later it was decided to transfer Baran to another animal park to help her physical and emotional development.
This she would be stunted by her lack of contact with other chimpanzees.
And, because introducing her back into her own troop was no longer an option, they decided to link up with specialists with extensive experience in reintroducing chimps into family groups, and contacted the Kenyan chimp sanctuary.
A spokesperson for Eram Zoo said: “Chimpanzees are social creatures who must live in their social groups to acquire the necessary skills for a healthy and natural social life.”
Parviz Ghandali, zoo director, said at the time: “Although Eram Zoo was able to save Baran, it was decided that she needs to be transferred to the international chimpanzee care centre in Kenya because she can live better with necessary facilities and environment.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.
