Childless French couple adopts gorilla
Owners of the zoo of Saint-Martin-la-Plaine, Pierre and Eliane Thivillon, pose with female gorilla Digit at their bedroom window (Reuters)
A childless French couple have adopted a 13-year-old female gorilla.
Zoo managers, Pierre and Elianne Thivillon take the gorilla, named Digit, home every night after she has spent the day entertaining young visitors at the zoo enclosure.
The Thivillons, who live just next door to Digit's cage, took in the 120 kg gorilla when her biological mother refused to breast-feed her.
The couple has already spent time with living Digit's brother, Ginko.
They had to eventually send Ginko back to the zoo after he started becoming a too aggressive. However, life with Digit is said to be more pleasant.
"It's going very well," said Mr Thivillon. "We have a 13-year-old relationship with Digit. So obviously we have created a very strong bond with each other."
"Family life was a little more difficult to manage with Ginko because he only got to know us at the age of five," he added. Taking care of a gorilla takes a toll on your social life, just as raising a child does, the couple said. No more nights at the cinema or dinners at restaurants.
Digit likes receiving attention from her adoptive parents who said they don't mind the sacrifice either. She enjoys sleeping in the couple's bed.
Giving up Ginko was tough, but having Digit in their lives is a pleasure, they said.
"Life was very difficult a few days after Ginko left. We got used to seeing him everyday.
He slept near us, we had breakfast together, we had a good time together and it was a real pleasure. It was very hard to see him go," Mr Thivillon said.
Zoo vet Jean-Christophe Gerard was amused by the bond between the gorilla and the Thivillons. He said he was surprised at Digit's gentle behaviour. "It's an animal. It can have reactions; it can react violently to things it doesn't like," Mr Gerard said.
"It's a female that was never aggressive with Pierre or Elianne, so there has never been any behaviour or other concerns. They respect her; they have established a relationship with her, which is stable for the moment."
3 News / Reuters
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Childless-French-couple-adopts-gorilla/tabid/1160/articleID/217093/Default.aspx#ixzz26ehFUHMn
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