Saint Louis Zoo’s Bakari moves to Florida to help protect endangered gorillas

FOX23 News at 9 p.m

ST. LOUIS (KBSI) — A 21-year-old western lowland gorilla at the Saint Louis Zoo has moved to another Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoo in central Florida to begin the next chapter of his life as part of a conservation breeding program.

Bakari’s transfer was recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Western Lowland Gorilla Species Survival Plan, which manages a genetically healthy population of the critically endangered species in North American accredited zoos.

Bakari arrived at the Saint Louis Zoo in 2011 from Brookfield Zoo, where he was born in 2005. Since then, he has lived with a bachelor gorilla troop at Jungle of the Apes. Bachelor troops, made up of adult and young male gorillas, help prepare silverbacks to one day lead their own family groups.

Zoo officials said Bakari’s move gives him the opportunity to become the leader of a breeding group, strengthening the western lowland gorilla population.

The Saint Louis Zoo has played a significant role in gorilla conservation through the Species Survival Plan. It was the first Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoo in North America to establish a bachelor troop for western lowland gorillas and the first to successfully integrate two bachelor troops.

Western lowland gorillas are the most common of the four gorilla subspecies but are critically endangered because of habitat loss, poaching and disease. The Saint Louis Zoo also supports conservation efforts through its WildCare Institute Center for the Conservation of Congo Apes.