The fire took place in the first minutes of 2020 this morning. Police believe it may have been caused by sky lanterns launched to celebrate the New Year. Krefeld Zoo, which is north of Dusseldorf said the ape house burned down completely and animals died including five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee and several monkeys, as well as birds and fruit bats.
“We have to seriously work through the mourning process,” zoo director Wolfgang Dressen said, adding that his zookeepers are in shock. Witnesses said they saw paper lanterns with small fires inside flying in the night sky nearby. Krefeld’s head of criminal police Gerd Hoppman said, “People reported seeing those sky lanterns flying at low altitude near the zoo and then it started burning.”
Police and firefighters were called to the fire at 12:38 am local time. Two chimpanzees were rescued by firefighters, having suffered burns. They are in a stable condition, according to Mr Dressen. “It’s close to a miracle that Bally, a 40-year-old female chimpanzee, and Limbo, a younger male survived,” he said. He added that many of the dead animals were close to extinction in the wild. A gorilla garden, which is near the ape house, was spared from the fire. Gorilla Kidogo and six members of his family group are alive.
The use of sky lanterns is illegal in Krefeld and other parts of Germany. Mr Hoppman urged the people who launched them or witnesses to come forward to police. He added that some of the white paper lanterns, which measured 34 cm long, had not burned up entirely and some had handwritten notes inside. Mr Hoppmann said they found some used lanterns on the ground that had not burned entirely.
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