Miami

Visitors Find ‘Bocco' the Chimp Dead in Zoo Miami Habitat

What to Know

  • Zoo spokesman Ron Magill said that reports of the unresponsive chimp came in Monday afternoon and zoo staff quickly closed the area.
  • Magill says Bocco appeared with the rest of his chimpanzee troop around 2 p.m. Monday during a Keeper Talk at the zoo.

Visitors found Booco the chimpanzee dead in his habitat at Zoo Miami.

Zoo spokesman Ron Magill tells the Miami Herald that reports of the unresponsive chimp came in Monday afternoon and zoo staff quickly closed off the area to the public.

Magill says Bocco appeared with the rest of his chimpanzee troop around 2 p.m. Monday during a Keeper Talk at the zoo. He was found dead at 3:45 p.m. Magill says "it was terrible to see the other chimps around him prodding him, trying to get him to move."

Bocco had not shown any signs of illness before Monday. Magill says Bocco was born at the zoo on March 22, 1990. Chimps tend to live 50 to 60 years.

A necropsy is being conducted on Tuesday.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us