Comrade Cozy and The Green Revolution
Cozy was born in America and sold to a novelty photographer in Italy. The photographer used Cozy as a prop: the baby chimp, “cutely” sucking his thumb, would be posed beside customers. The photographer was constantly on the move, traveling with two trailer homes, the second driven by his girlfriend.
Cozy was still a baby when the photographer died unexpectedly, leaving his girlfriend stranded and almost penniless. She was nervous of Cozy, locked him into his cage in the trailer home, drew the curtains and did not let him out again – ever
Some nine years later, JGI Italy received intelligence about Cozy: a chimp living in a darkened room, in a cage barely big enough for him to stand upright. JGI Chimp Eden would not normally rescue chimps outside of Africa, but no sanctuary in Europe could take Cozy at short notice, and his condition was critical. Because he’d been in close confinement since infancy, his bone and muscle development were severely stunted. When Cozy arrived at Chimp Eden, he could hardly walk, let alone climb trees. Standing no chance of survival alongside the big males in the adult enclosure, he was placed in the infants’ enclosure.
Here, he’s made immense progress, growing muscles and confidence. Eugene has been giving him tree-climbing lessons, and he’s now able to tackle many of the trees in the enclosure. Cozy is one of Chimp Eden’s biggest success stories, and living proof of the value of the rehabilitation techniques being developed at the sanctuary.
The success with Cozy has shown that individuals do matter and that the impossible can be done if we all believe..
