
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990                   TAG: 9007310075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROYAL OAK, MICH.                                LENGTH: Short

MAN SAVES DROWNING CHIMP

A passer-by became a heroic lifeguard in an unlikely locale when a chimpanzee jumped into a 5-foot-deep moat at the Detroit Zoo on Sunday.

As many as 1,000 people were in the area when the 18-year-old male chimp jumped into the moat, zoo spokeswoman Pat Butkiewicz said.

"I heard this splash," said witness Sherry Huntington. "People started screaming, `He's going to drown!' You saw him surface a little bit, then go down. It was like watching a drowning person. That poor animal."

The man, who asked zoo officials not to identify him, hauled the 135-pound chimp from the moat and pulled it safely onto an island where 10 chimpanzees are kept.

In April, a 20-year-old female chimp drowned in the moat a week after the $7.5 million exhibit opened.

Chimpanzees cannot swim because they have too little body fat. Zoo officials aren't sure why the chimps jumped into the moat. The outdoor portion of the chimp exhibit was closed indefinitely.

by CNB