JOHANNESBURG — Two chimpanzees who mauled an American student in South Africa will not be killed because authorities found the animals defended their territory against a trespasser, a park director said Tuesday.
Andrew Oberle, 26, lost an ear, several fingers and toes and a testicle in the attack on Thursday when he entered a restricted enclosure at Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in the northeast of the country, the national parks board found.
“They don’t believe the chimpanzees should be put down because they were in defence of their territory and they did not escape or try to climb over the fence with the intent to hurt anyone or to attack any tourist,” said “Chimp Eden” director Eugene Cussons.
While taking tourists on a visi
t of the facility he climbed over an outer safety fence to a restricted zone in front of the 4.5-hectare encampment fence to fetch a stone that the apes might try to throw at people.
t of the facility he climbed over an outer safety fence to a restricted zone in front of the 4.5-hectare encampment fence to fetch a stone that the apes might try to throw at people.
“Andrew was never trained to do so. There’s only a few people that’s trained at the highest level that actually go into the no-go zone,” Cussons told AFP
Oberle stepped onto an outer wire mesh of the camp, which triggered the defensive instincts of the pack leader, Amadeus, and his second-in-command Nikki. They grabbed his one foot and dragged him down, pinning him under the fence.
“This fierce struggle that went on between him and the chimpanzees damaged that section of the fence and the two male chimpanzees used that damaged section to be able to crawl underneath and exit.”
They then dragged him 30 meters (100 feet) away. Cussons was called to kill the animals if necessary when first rescue attempts did not work.
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