ABC
September 26, 2013
A male gorilla is leaving Dallas Zoo to have therapy after he bit one female gorilla and sneered at others.
Patrick, a 195-kilogram Western lowland gorilla, will be moving to the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina, where he will live the bachelor life in his own digs.
The South Carolina zoo is known for working with gorillas with behavioural problems.
Dallas Zoo officials said Patrick gets along fine with humans but not with other gorillas.
They said they have repeatedly tried to get him to socialise with the other gorillas, particularly the females, in the hope that he might get along and even breed.
Instead, he bit one female and sneered and nipped at others.
“It’s not like we haven’t tried, he’s been here for 18 years,” Dallas Zoo spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.
Patrick was more tolerant of other male gorillas but seemed only to engage with Jabari, who was shot to death by Dallas police after he escaped in 2004 and injured three people.
Because of his cranky behaviour, Patrick has been kept in his own habitat separate from the other gorillas.