on the cover / By Daniel Mintz

Saga of an Ape — The surprising true story of the late Bill the Chimp

(July 26, 2007)  When the Sequoia Park Zoo’s oldest and most popular animal rejected food and water and struggled to breathe for a second day, his caretakers made an announcement that riveted the Eureka community: Bill the Chimp was dying.

The press release declaring that the 61-year-old chimpanzee was “gravely ill” got instant responses from reporters, and when the news broke on June 26 it magnetized emotional reactions from the many people who considered Bill their longtime friend. Finding the zoo closed as its staff tended to the dying chimp, well-wishers hung cards and ribbons on its front gate, but by the end of the day, the decision to euthanize the city’s favorite zoo resident was deemed unavoidable.

Bill during his last days. Photo by Gretchen Ziegler.

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Perhaps the suddenness of Bill’s death made it hit harder. The zoo had begun a renovation of his exhibit space barely a week earlier, a project that would have brought the chimp’s living conditions somewhat closer to modern professional standards. Not long before that, he’d been visited by famed primatologist Jane Goodall, who spent about 45 minutes with him and concluded that he was in good condition. Undiagnosed heart disease was about to intensify, however, forcing the zoo’s staff members to make the most painful decision of their lives. And those who’d only known Bill as zoo visitors shared the sense of loss, summarized in a Times-Standard newspaper editorial. “He Was One of Us,” its title proclaimed.

But Bill the Chimp wasn’t a human being, although through twists of circumstance he became involved in human society and took on various roles in it. Considered a member of the community, he was also its captive. In many ways nothing is as it seems with Bill. His history and his relationships with people reveal a lot about him, however, most of it surprising.

Into the ring

In the summer of 1957, Eureka’s biggest event was a boxing match featuring a fighter known as Billy the Champ. It was a rigged fight, like all of them had been, but this would be the only one he’d ever lose. A “retirement” to the city’s zoo awaited the 11-year-old chimpanzee, who’d become too savage for the circus.

Bill the Chimp’s initiation to human society likely began years earlier in a Central African jungle. Chimpanzees and other exotic wild animals were rarely bred in captivity then, and after being captured in the jungle they were marketed by animal dealers to circuses, research labs and collectors. Infant chimpanzees were of high value and were often obtained through the killing of their parents. The circumstances of Bill’s capture may never be discovered, but by the early 1950s, he was performing in England with the Bertram Mills Circus, the British equivalent of Ringling Brothers. He formed one of his closest human bonds there, with a Dutch animal trainer named Willy Lenz.

Lenz joined a circus in Holland when he was 17 years old, and animal training became his specialty. After establishing himself internationally working with brown bears in various circuses, he was hired by Bertram Mills to train its team of six chimps. His wife, Ann, a trapeze artist and high-wire walker, joined him and together they helmed one of Bertram Mills’ most popular attractions.

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