Iowa's Great Ape Trust to relocate orangutans
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Associated Press - November 18, 2009 4:34 PM ET
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Great Ape Trust is relocating its colony of orangutans from a research center in Des Moines.
The trust announced the upcoming move Wednesday. The center's colony of bonobos will remain at the facility.
Operations Director Jim Aipperspach (EYE'-per-spach) says the trust couldn't reach a deal with Des Moines' Blank Park Zoo to build a new center for the orangutans. And, the floods of 2008 have made expanding the trust's campus along the banks of the Des Moines River impossible.
The trust is responsible for 11 orangutans.
Ben Beck, the trust's conservation director, declined to say where the apes would be moved but that negotiations are under way with a midwestern zoo where the research could continue. He expects an announcement could be made in the next few weeks.
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