Great Ape Trust asks federal court to resolve longstanding bonobo ownership issue

Des Moines, IA – February 9, 2010 – Great Ape Trust, a scientific research center in Des Moines has filed federal court documents seeking resolution to the contested ownership of two of its bonobo chimpanzees.  At stake is where Matata, the 40-year-old matriarch of the Great Ape Trust bonobo colony, and her 9-year-old son Maisha will spend the rest of their lives.

“We're hoping to resolve a very complicated series of events and agreements over several decades,” said Ted Townsend, chairman and founder of Great Ape Trust. “This is a significant issue with respect to our language research program and, more important, to the welfare and future of our bonobo family.”

Great Ape Trust filed on February 5 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa an Interpleader Action, a legal proceeding to determine the rights of rival claimants to property held by a third person. The Trust wants the court to determine legal ownership of Matata and Maisha, who were among a colony of bonobos transferred to Great Ape Trust in the spring of 2005 from the Language Research Center at Georgia State University (GSU). Those who have asserted ownership interests in either or both Matata and Maisha include Zoo Atlanta, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Great Ape Trust, and the Japanese Monkey Centre. Pending resolution of the ownership issue, Great Ape Trust officials have asked the court to keep the two bonobos in Des Moines.

The ownership entanglement came to light during discussions involving the Bonobo Species Survival Program (SSP), a program within the American Zoological Association that assists in the survival of endangered species, which wanted Zoo Atlanta and Great Ape Trust to transfer Matata and Maisha to Milwaukee County Zoo where they would permanently reside and be part of a bonobo breeding program.

MATATA

Matata was born in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, around 1970, and lived as a wild bonobo for five years before she was captured and imported to the United States in 1975 as part of a National Academy of Sciences initiative aiding third-world nations through the development of unique indigenous resources. Matata, one of the last wild-born apes to enter the United States before U.S. and international law regulated the importation and exportation of bonobos, was among a group of bonobos placed at Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Ga. for research.

In 1996, Yerkes transferred control of its bonobo research facility to the Language Research Center at Georgia State University (GSU). Matata continued to reside with the bonobo colony at GSU where she became part of the groundbreaking bonobo language research program directed by Savage-Rumbaugh and Dr. Duane Rumbaugh. Matata came to Great Ape Trust under an agreement with Zoo Atlanta but in March 2009, an official with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) notified Great Ape Trust of its continuing ownership interest in Matata.

MAISHA

Maisha was included in the Zoo Atlanta transfer request because ownership agreements of captive animals sometimes extend to offspring.  Maisha is the 9-year-old son of Matata and P-Suke, an adult male bonobo who was among the colony transferred in 2005 to Great Ape Trust from GSU.