Billy "Top Top"

SOROCABA SANCTUARY

Billy is one of the most intelligent chimpanzees of the sanctuary. At the circus he learned everything he saw, something good and others, not so much, like do bad signs and gestures.

Billy is at the mega-enclosure of Noel’s gang, exploring it and looking through every window. Since the beginning we realize he liked to spend time in a group of windows that enable him to see an empty farm in the neighborhood of the sanctuary. We presumed that something interesting was calling his attention and that there would be not animals, but humans.

We started to go to the mega-enclosure daily to see what happened and last Saturday, November 7th, we found out! There it was the origin of his curiosity. A woman and a child had broken the fence and entered at the sanctuary. The woman talked to Billy closely, while the child (a 6 o 7 year-old) observed him a little bit scared. I called her attention fiercely, showing how dangerous this could be and telling her about Billy’s power. And Billy signed to her asking for her to get closer with a friendship look. She insisted, saying he was good. After a while I managed she got out of the property. Billy realized I was mad at her and had complained seriously. Then, when she was crossing the fence, he did his typical gesture “top top”, as he was saying to her, “you got burned, my boss sent you away”, not to mention what he really meant.

After that scare episode, we asked to reinforce the fence, build another one internal and put danger signs. Billy is a lovely chimpanzee with his friends, but he can be dangerous with whom he does not know.