Yoko, Colombia’s last remaining chimpanzee, was flown to Brazil yesterday to join others of his species. At 38 years old, Yoko had been living at the Ukumarí Biopark near Pereira since 2017 after being rescued from a drug trafficker.
Following the deaths of two other chimpanzees in recent years, Yoko became the only one left in Colombia. His transfer to Brazil was arranged to ensure he could spend his final years in the company of other chimps, improving his social and emotional well-being. The move marks an important step in wildlife conservation and the ethical treatment of rescued animals in Colombia.
Yoko, Colombia’s last chimp, to start new life in Brazil
Yoko will be integrated into the Sorocaba sanctuary in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, which is the largest great ape sanctuary in Latin America, housing 250 animals.
“Sorocaba is aware of Yoko’s mental health and behavior. We believe that there, he will have the chance to live in better conditions,” said Julio César Gómez, head of the local environmental authority.
In Colombia, Yoko had been living with two other chimps, Chita and Pancho, who were killed in 2023 after escaping from the sanctuary, as they posed a security threat to locals.
However, Yoko is a chimp with very little experience interacting with his own kind.
“He is a very humanized chimp, his level of domestication is extremely high […]. He behaves like a child, which should not be the case—he should behave like a chimp,” explained his veterinarian, Javier Guerrero, to AFP.
His previous owners had excessively humanized him, getting him accustomed to watching television, wearing clothes, and smoking, which led to partial hair loss.
Yoko’s diet was also severely disrupted, with a constant intake of fast food causing him to lose almost all his teeth.
Due to his previous lifestyle, Yoko has great difficulty socializing with other chimps, feeling more comfortable around humans.
“Yoko is an individual who, in the strictest sense, is not a chimp […]. He identifies much more with humans. For example, a smile is a positive sign for us, but for chimps, it is a negative one, and Yoko does not understand these types of communication signals,” explained César Gómez, a biologist at the Ukumari Biopark.
Wildlife trafficking in Colombia
With Yoko’s departure, Colombia has become the first country to voluntarily end the captivity of great apes.
The massive introduction of exotic species from Africa and Asia into Colombia dates back to the golden age of drug cartels in the 1970s and 1980s. Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin cartel, was particularly fascinated by animals and imported dozens of foreign species into the country, including giraffes, rhinoceroses, elephants, camels, zebras, kangaroos, flamingos, ostriches, and more.
Most notably, Escobar introduced hippos to Colombia, which managed to escape and establish a lasting population around the Magdalena River, creating immense problems for local ecosystems and communities. With no natural predators, they multiplied rapidly, forcing authorities to implement control measures, including potential eradication.
In recent years, wildlife trafficking has surged in Colombia, fueled by narcoculture and social media trends. Foreign species such as Fischer’s lovebirds from Africa, Indian pythons, North American corn snakes, and even African pygmy hedgehogs have been discovered across the country.