Happy birthday Ndume! We miss and love you!
Our most recent visit to see Ndume was at the end of June, 2024. While it is always good to see him, the visits remain bittersweet. Thick soundproof glass or long distance separate us, limiting our interactions. Auditory and olfactory cues are important parts of gorilla communication and a key to understanding their emotional state, so only being able to see one another restricts connection.
I sign to him, “I love you” and “I’m happy to see you,” but if Ndume responds with his typical vocalizations, like a purr or grunt, I cannot hear him. The soundproof glass makes it difficult to let him know how much we miss him, and check if he is okay.
After 5 years at the Cincinnati Zoo, Ndume is still uncomfortable being on exhibit. He throws himself at the glass where the public is standing or runs by and pounds the glass with his fist. Each visit strengthens our belief that gorillas do not belong in zoos. These intelligent and social beings deserve to live in natural environments, making choices about their own lives.
Ndume’s birthday is a reminder to us all that it’s time to rethink zoos and what the lives of animals who live within them are really like. Please join us in sending him lots of love on his birthday, with the hope that all gorillas will one day have the freedom they deserve.
