He paints, eats with cutlery, watching television … But he’s been alone for two years: Yoko, the last chimpanzee who lived in a captivity in Colombia, took the plane to Brazil, where he will meet his peers again in a refuge.

The 38 -year -old yoko weighs 60kg and is almost a flag, as he was not adequately taken care of him as they bought him on the black market. It has now been transferred to Sorokamba, Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the largest refuge in Latin America, which hosts 250 animals, is located.

Journalists from the French Agency accompanied him to one of his two flights. In this business under the code name “Noah’s Ark”, Yoko traveled in a cage, along with a veterinarian who was concerned about his future membership in the community.

The playful chimpanzee, who loves sweets and paints with colored wood paints, has not seen any other chimpanzees for about two years. He had been bought by a drug dealer until he was seized in 2017 by the police and sent him to the Ukoumari Biopark of Pereira, Central Colombia.

In 2023 the other two chimpanzees who lived in Colombia, Cheetah and Punch, escaped from this zoo. They killed them because they pose a danger to neighboring communities. This has caused the strong reactions of animal lovers across the country.

Yoko grew up as if he were a human being, he used to watch television and had difficulty “socializing” with other chimpanzees, according to the guards. However, he had developed a special bond with cheetah. After her death, no one was left by his “friend”.

The International Union for the Protection of Nature (UICN) considers the chimpanzees of a species that is at risk of extinction.

The Colombian authorities have decided to send Yoko to Sorocaba, Brazil, and his carers pray for the other chimpanzees there.

“He’s a chimpanzee ‘humanized’, behaving as if he were a kid, which shouldn’t be the case. It should be treated like a chimpanzee »said the vet watching him, Javier Guerrero.

Colombian mobsters are used to buying all kinds of exotic animal – some have maintained entire zoos.

As his natural environment was deprived, Yoko loves chicken and many sugars, such as bananas, mango and grapes. He was fed with fast-feast, so he would spoil his teeth-only four left.

He was also taught to smoke and dress him in luxury garments. So he acquired skin problems and lost some of his hair.

In nature, chimpanzees have been living for 40-45 years. They can reach all 60 if they receive medical attention.

As he did not contact other chimpanzees when he was young, Yoko developed a different way of communicating. “He was deprived of the opportunity to be a chimpanzee and grow up with his family”said Veterinary Assistant Alejandra Marin.

With his transfer to Sorokaba, where more than 40 chimpanzees live, he closes the painful chapter of the death of cheetah and Puns.

According to the international non -governmental organization Projet Grand Singe, Colombia becomes the first country in the world to voluntarily have no prime animal captivity.

“Yoko’s departure is deeply symbolic (…) None of these species is endemic (…) They have a place in this country,” said Andrea Pantiya, the senator who helped transport the chimpanzee to Brazil.

The question remains to be answered whether he will be able to join the “community” of the chimpanzees. Cesar Gomes, a biologist at the Ukoumari Biopark, hopes that in Soroca, Yoko will find other primates who will understand his behavior. “Yoko is a chimpanzee who, to put it clearly, is not a chimpanzee. Is more identified with people. To give you an example, smile is a positive distinctive sign for us, but not for chimpanzees, they see it negatively. And this way of communicating, Yoko doesn’t understand him, “he concluded.