November 10, 2020

Justice for Jocko

36 minutes

An unsolved mystery from our members-only podcast, Overunderstood. You can sign up and get access at patreon.com/underunderstood.

1:50 - Unfriendly Chimp Stolen From Cage In Central Park (NYT) - March 6, 1970

4:24 - Thief Says A Rare Bird Needed Love (NYT) — July 14, 1999 and Rare Bird Is Back in Hand, and So Is a Suspect (NYT) — January 28. 1999

6:31 - History of Central Park Zoos. There are no chimps today.

9:34 - Found a relevant crime, with a very different ending, while uploading these show notes: Chimps Stolen From Zoo Found Happy in Brooklyn Phone Booth (NYT) — October 25, 1966. Except apparently the Prospect Park zookeepers missed their chimps, who were "like babies to us" and started a ransom fund before they were found. The same kidnapper?? This story also notes that the chimps cost about $600.

10:18 - What the park zoo looked like in the 1970s. The zoo is also mentioned in here around 8:58.

13:55 - AWFUL CALAMITY. The Wild Animals Escape from Central Park. TERRIBLE SCENES OF MUTILATION. This was a hoax by the New York Herald in 1874.

15:40 - $60,000 for a chimp in 2009 and $600 for a chimp in the first half of the century

18:46 - Chimpanzees in Central Park Zoo, New York City, 1970. (Photo by Jill Freedman/Getty Images)

20:18 - Jill Freedman on Instagram. The photo of her with a beer was taken down, but you can see some of her work.

23:25 - This version of the photo has a caption and more specific date: "A chimpanzee wearing a tuxedo and roller skates sits on a chair at a photographic gallery opening." New York City, 1974. (Photo by Jill Freedman/Getty Images).

29:37 - The Wildlife Conservation Society told me they had no records, but stuff like this and this seems promising.

30:24 - CORRECTION: I said University of North Carolina in the episode, but I meant North Carolina State University. Ugh.

31:34 - Angry Keeper Stages Monkey House Lock‐In

And more stuff here.

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