Chimpanzee colleagues beat a chimpanzee to death at the shelter where she was sent to Kenya to learn to live with monkeys after spending her entire life with humans
- Baran, four, was killed just months after being transferred to Kenya from Iran
- She was raised by people at Eman Zoo in Tehran after she was rejected by her mother
- The other chimpanzees beat her after she got into her enclosure by breaking her lock
- Zookeepers managed to stop the violence, but Baran later succumbed to their injuries
A chimpanzee sent to a Kenyan sanctuary to learn how to coexist with monkeys after living with humans all his life was beaten to death by other chimpanzees.
Four-year-old Baran died just a few months after her transfer from the Eram Park Zoo in the Iranian capital Tehran to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Laikipia, Kenya.
She had been quarantined for 90 days and was in the second phase of her introduction to the sanctuary – remote contact with the other chimpanzees.
Baran managed to break the barrier to her area and entered the zone with the chimpanzee family she had been introduced to from afar.
The other chimpanzees attacked the four-year-old and seriously injured her. The zookeepers managed to stop the violence but were unable to save Baran, who later succumbed to her injuries.
Four-year-old chimpanzee Baran, who was sent to a Kenyan sanctuary to learn how to coexist with monkeys after spending his entire life with humans, was beaten to death by fellow monkeys
Aran died just months after being transferred from the Eram Park Zoo in the Iranian capital Tehran to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Laikipia, Kenya (picture)
Baran was relocated to Kenya in the summer because it was considered unhealthy for her to continue to live in isolation from other chimpanzees.
She was raised by humans after her mother rejected her because she was born prematurely and was therefore more difficult to care for.
As a result, veterinarians took her away from her mother and slowly nursed her to the point where they believed she could be returned to her parents.
At this point the mother no longer accepted the baby, and because she refused, so did the rest of the group, so she was pulled away from them and hand-fed by zoo veterinarian Eman Memarian.
Baran was relocated from Iran to Kenya in the summer (a farewell ceremony in Tehran is shown) because she considered it unhealthy to continue to live in isolation from other chimpanzees
Baran was raised by people at Eram Zoon in Tehran after her mother rejected her because she was born prematurely and therefore more difficult to care for
The zoo later decided to move Baran to another zoo to support her physical and emotional development after Memarian feared she would be stunted by her lack of contact with other chimpanzees.
Since the possibility of reintroducing them into their own troops was no longer an option, they decided to team up with specialists who had extensive experience in reintroducing chimpanzees into family groups and contacted the Kenyan Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
A spokesman for the Eram Zoo said, “Chimpanzees are social beings who must live in their social groups in order to acquire the skills necessary for healthy and natural social life.”
Parviz Ghandali, zoo director, said at the time: “Although the Eram Zoo was able to save Baran, it was decided that she must be moved to the international chimpanzee care center in Kenya because she can live better with the necessary facilities and the surrounding area.”
Baran managed to break the barrier to her area and entered the zone with the chimpanzee family she had been introduced to from afar. The other chimpanzees attacked the four-year-old and seriously injured her. The zookeepers managed to stop the violence but were unable to save Baran, who later succumbed to her injuries
