Our Charly is simply cult. The early evening series ran on TV for 17 years and was also very popular in other European countries. The trademark: Chimpanzee Charly always caused fun and excitement with his performances. But what actually happened to the popular chimpanzee who took on the role of Charly?
Our Charly: The sweet chimpanzee thrilled young and old alike
Our Charly tells the story of the chimpanzee Charly, who escapes from the hands of a gang of animal smugglers and finds refuge with a family of veterinarians in Berlin. There he shakes up the lives of his human roommates and causes laughter with cheeky pranks. The show thrilled young and old because Charly’s performances made children’s hearts beat faster, while the interpersonal drama also attracted adults to the screens.
From 1995 to 2012, ZDF broadcast new episodes, but after 16 seasons it finally ended. The reason for the series ending was probably the increasingly loud criticism of animal protection: Those responsible were repeatedly accused of exploiting defenseless animals for entertainment purposes.
Sorted out in a tough way: This is what happened to the popular chimpanzee from Unser Charly
Hard to believe, but true: there have been numerous monkeys behind the role of Charly over the years – According to ZDF there were even 14 chimpanzees. As the animal protection podcast “Hohe Animals” reports, there was a reason for this change in actors: As soon as the monkeys reached puberty, they were no longer suitable for filming due to their aggressive nature and had to be sorted out.
Because the chimpanzees had been separated from their families when they were children, there was no chance for the sensitive animals to return to nature after filming. After just a few years in front of the camera, the highly intelligent apes faced a long fate in captivity. As Die Welt reported in 2010, the discarded monkeys faced many decades in captivity: “So the animal trainers are faced with the problem […] “Having to feed chimpanzees that no longer make any money for almost half a century.”said university professor Carsten Niemitz to Welt.
It is not known exactly where the Charly actors are today. But over ten years ago there was criticism that that the company responsible is said to have deported the monkeys to a desolate animal asylum in Texas. However, a spokeswoman for the company told Welt that the precarious conditions of that time are now a thing of the past: today the animals are housed in a nature park in California. Two of the chimpanzees were found in the “High Animals” podcast in 2021. They are supposed to live in a sanctuary in Texas.