Petermann (chimpanzee)

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Petermann (born 1947 ; died October 10, 1985 in Cologne ) was a male chimpanzee from the Cologne Zoo . The trained animal first became known through public appearances and as an advertising medium for the zoo. In 1985, Petermann was shot dead by the police after an outbreak in the course of which he attacked and seriously injured the then director of the zoo, Gunther Nogge .

life and death

Shortly after the Second World War , Petermann came to Europe by ship as a young animal with his mother . Because the chimpanzee died shortly before arrival, the stepdaughter of the then zoo director Werner Zahn , Riele Holtermann, raised him with a baby bottle (journalist Walter Filz expressed doubts about this part of the story ). According to the stepdaughter herself, the animal was first brought from Africa to the Netherlands as a baby and was nursed there, but was probably also humanized, for example by being allowed to sleep in a bed with its caretaker there.

Raised without other chimpanzees, the monkey was eventually trained to perform tricks and mimic human behavior while wearing human clothing. So he could eat from a plate with cutlery, rode around on a motorcycle or, wearing the uniforms of Cologne carnival societies, was brought to appearances at carnival meetings. In his appearances, but also on postcards and posters, he promoted the Cologne Zoo.

After he had reached sexual maturity at the age of ten, he was removed from the dressage program due to the increased aggressiveness associated with it. His "human" socialization to the exclusion of conspecifics as well as the unsuitable keeping in the zoo led to severe behavioral disorders, which in turn restricted the possibilities of his keeping - he no longer learned a species-appropriate social behavior among primates .

On October 10, 1985, his cage door was improperly locked by a nurse. Together with the chimpanzee "Susi", Petermann broke out of his cage. They first knocked an animal keeper to the ground. In the feed kitchen, they attacked the zoo director Gunther Nogge with bites in his head and face in a life-threatening manner. Zoo workers were able to separate her from her victim. A staff member was able to take her by the hand and wanted to bring her back to her cage. They then tore themselves away and continued their escape. Petermann was shot dead on the zoo grounds, Susi was killed shortly afterwards outside the zoo by the police in the basement of a residential building.

Follow and reception

Nogge later rated the incident as an attack on a "competitive alpha animal "; there was no intention to kill. Due to the incident, the previously traditional way of keeping primate animals in Cologne Zoo was reformed a short time later, as in other zoos, in favor of keeping the animals' natural social behavior.

In retrospect, some Cologne residents interpreted the outbreak and death of Petermann as an act of rebellion by an oppressed creature , an act of anarchy . So dive isolated stencils (stencil graffiti) with the words "Petermann lives" on. A punk band and a football team from Cologne's Colorful League named themselves after the animal, who was revered as the “only true anarchist and freedom fighter in the city”.

literature

media

  • “Petermann, you go ahead!” - Documentary by Georg Roloff and Stephan Arnold, 30 min. - WDR West3 1989, Interior Views Editor, Werner Filmer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Heiko Behr , Christian Möller : Petermann, you go ahead! In: Brinkmann. September 6, 2015, accessed October 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Tobias Christ: Cologne Zoo: How the Petermann monkey became a Cologne myth . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . ( ksta.de [accessed on February 19, 2017]).
  3. ↑ https://www.welt.de/print/wams/nrw/article10190553/Der-Affe-von-Koeln.html
  4. ↑ https://www.express.de/news/50-jahre-express-ex-zoo-chef-nogge-ueber-die-affen-attacke-von-1985-2709504
  5. ↑ October 10, 1985 - Chimpanzee Petermann breaks out of the Cologne Zoo . West German Broadcasting Cologne. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ Armin Himmelrath: A monkey as a revolutionary: Petermann, you go ahead! In: Spiegel Online . October 10, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 12, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Sabine Etzold: The alpha male . In: The time . July 20, 2006. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  8. ↑ Cologne Info, Cologne celebrities: Petermann , accessed on April 27, 2009
  9. ↑ www.koelncampus.com , accessed on August 27, 2012
  10. ↑ Petermann went ahead - alternative footballers met for the tournament - in: Die Zeit June 2, 1989 No. 23