Jane Goodall Institute: "Shooting sharp is the last thing you should do"

The Jane Goodall Institute was founded in 1977 by British researcher Jane Goodall, one of the world's foremost experts on chimpanzees, and works to increase understanding of great apes and their habitats.

Patrick van Veen is chairman of the organization and emphasizes that he does not have all the facts to determine whether it was a right or wrong decision to shoot the escaped chimpanzees in the Furuvik park with live ammunition.

But to capture chimpanzees on the run, the first option should always be to put them to sleep with anesthetic darts, he believes.

- There should always be an option to shoot them with stun darts and that should always be the first option, says Patrick van Veen.

- Shooting at them sharply is really the last thing you should do.

"Always used anesthesia"

Furuviksparken describes the chimpanzees as a "high-risk animal" and believes that there was no alternative but to shoot them because they posed a danger to human life.

Van Veen agrees with that description – the chimpanzee is a "high-risk animal" and "extremely dangerous" to humans.

- But we also know from similar situations in Europe, and also outside Europe, that there are sometimes other options.

Sometimes it is the keeper who helps the chimpanzees back to their enclosures, and in most situations this can be solved with anesthesia.

We have had to deal with escapes of extremely dangerous chimpanzees and in the situations that I am aware of, we have always used anesthesia, he says.

Live ammunition current for direct attack

When can it be relevant to shoot sharply at a chimpanzee?

- When there is a direct attack, and I say attack, not threat, because they are different things.

What we see is that many chimpanzees start by threatening, making a lot of noise and showing expressive behavior.

I think it takes a good understanding of chimpanzee behavior to understand if it is an emergency.

The other situation is when the sleeping pill doesn't work and there is still a threat or threatening behavior, says van Veen.

He describes the situation at Furuviksparken as "sad".

- Not only for the animals, but also for the caretakers.

I know how closely the keepers are attached to their animals.