On Tuesday, Furuviksparken allowed outsiders into the park’s monkey house for the first time after the December drama last year that ended with four chimpanzees being shot to death.
As the first news team, TV4 Nyheterna got to see the three remaining chimpanzees Maria Magdalena, Tjobbe and Selma through a glass window in the monkey enclosure.
One of the remaining trio, Selma, was badly injured in connection with the escape drama when hunters shot her with a shotgun and since December she has been living without sight in one eye.
In the new pictures from inside the park, it is clear how her eye has been damaged.
– Being blind in one eye when you are a monkey will likely lead to a difference in quality of life. If you lose an eye, your distance judgment and thus climbing ability will be affected, which is a central part of a chimpanzee’s life, says Mathias Osvath, associate professor of cognitive zoology.
Animal keepers at the park say that the three chimpanzees are doing well after all and that they are trying to adapt to their new group constellation where four friends are missing.
The four who were shot dead in December were world-famous Santino, SVT-famous Manda and Linda, a victim of the bushmeat trade, and their three-year-old adopted son Torsten.
In the player above: See the new pictures from inside Furuviksparken.