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Chimpanzees never forget a face so it takes Cassius only moments to recognise the man who rescued him. He bangs the clear barrier of his enclosure and then kisses Tom Wyatt's hand through the glass.

Source : PortMac.News | Street :

Source : PortMac.News | Street | News Story:

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Cassius was saved from death row in a daring midnight raid
Chimpanzees never forget a face so it takes Cassius only moments to recognise the man who rescued him. He bangs the clear barrier of his enclosure and then kisses Tom Wyatt's hand through the glass.

News Story Summary:

Cassius, saved from death row in a daring midnight run, reunites with rescuers 35 years later.

"He was sort of like a stunned mullet," Mr Wyatt said.

"He got over-excited, went and ran to the hand, bashing the doors."

The pair spent almost every day with each other for 25 years at Rockhampton Zoo in central Queensland, but it's been a decade since they last met.

The emotional reunion between Cassius, Mr Wyatt, and his former partner-in-crime, Jim Webber, came a month before the chimpanzee turns 50 — making him the oldest male chimpanzee in Australia by a good decade.

Cassius is a little grizzled around the edges these days, but if it were not for Mr Wyatt, Mr Webber and fellow rescuer, Jim Broad, the chimp would have been killed 35 years ago.

The great ape escape:

Mr Wyatt was the director of Rockhampton's Sport and Recreation in 1986 when he was setting up a small zoo in the city's botanical gardens.

He switched on the television to watch a news report that a mother chimp and her two offspring in Tweed Heads were going to be euthanased because of suspected tuberculosis.

Mum Matilda had already been put down, only for authorities to discover neither of the chimps had TB.

Mr Wyatt said he jumped straight on the phone to Rockhampton's then-mayor Jim Webber. 

"I said, 'Are you watching the TV, Jim?' and he said, 'Yes, I am.' I said, 'What are we going to do about it?' and he said, 'We're going down to get them'," Mr Wyatt said. 

Neither the Queensland nor New South Wales governments, however, would sign permits to bring the chimps interstate and a date was set to euthanase the two young brothers, Cassius and Octavius.

"At about nine o'clock at night, we got in the car and went down to the coast to save them," Mr Webber said.

"I was a fast driver and Tom was so scared."

Arriving on the Tweed in the early hours of the morning, the zoo's vet handed over the animals with enough sedatives to keep them asleep for the 10-hour drive back to Rockhampton Zoo.

A semi-trailer driver heading north was in on the plan and the chimps' cages were hoisted on top of a load of timber and concealed with a tarp. 

"Jim said to the driver, 'Don't stop until you get to Queensland'," Mr Wyatt said.

"Tom and I were a bit like rebels, but we'd let them know afterwards, so we couldn't get into trouble."

Rescue legacy:

When Cassius and 'Ockie' were saved from death, their rescuers had no idea their actions would see Rockhampton Zoo placed firmly on the international breeding map.

Thirty-five years later, the council-run zoo is expecting a third baby in December, bringing some of the best genetics to the Australasian chimpanzee breeding program.

"If Cassius and Ockie hadn't been rescued and never came to the Rockhampton Zoo, we probably wouldn't have chimps today," lead primate keeper Blair Chapman said.

"It's quite important these infants that are coming through our group because it's adding new genetics to our population through Australasia, which creates a viable species management plan into the future."

Ockie died from a heart condition in 2013 but today Cassius is part of a seven-chimp pack, including two infants, in one of five zoos in Australia and New Zealand breeding chimpanzees for their conservation.

"He's an important chimp, and it's a really huge milestone," Mr Chapman said.

"It's incredible for any chimpanzee male to live to around 50, especially a chimpanzee that has been through the history of Cass."

Current council member Cherie Rutherford has overseen the expansion of the chimpanzee enclosure over the past few years.

"By saving Cassie and Ockie, by building these enclosures and growing this enclosure, look at what we have now," Cr Rutherford said. 

"It's just amazing, so to Tom Wyatt and Jim Webber and John Broad — a job really well done. We owe this to them." 

Story By | Inga Stünzner


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