APES CAME CLOSE TO EXTINCTION

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 Friday, August 20, 2021 - 09:34
APES CAME CLOSE TO EXTINCTION

*From the first history of the apes, by JOE GARCIA, so popular that three editions were published.

*CONTINUES FROM YESTERDAY
With shouts of "They are perfect pests" and "The apes have long ceased to be a joke", the Rock Apes came close to extinction in 1923 when it was officially put to the Military Authorities if they had any particular objection to all the apes being got rid of, but the views expressed 3 years earlier by the Secretary of State saved the day.

However by the end of 1923 there were only 5 apes left and by the beginning of the following year the largest ape was destroyed. A few days later yet another ape was shot. But a plan to capture and cage the remaining apes did not take effect and by 1926 the number of apes had gone up to 6 - and it was 8 the following year!
It would seem that the policy then was to keep numbers down but not to the extent of prejudicing the preservation of the species. This concept gained emphasis and by the beginning of the 1930s the aim was in fact to reinforce the ape colony by importing young apes from Tangier.

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