Rita — a story of love, loss and loneliness

Just three months shy of her 60th birthday, Rita, the Oldest chimpanzee in India — and the only one in Delhi zoo — was put to rest on Tuesday.

Clutching on to her favourite gunny bag, which had become inseparable from her in her final days, Rita breathed last after 59 summers on Tuesday. Her frail body still carried the wounds of bed sores that told the stories of her long, lonely days in her cage.

“We have decided to come up with Rita’s statue on her birthday. It will be a tribute to her,” said RA Khan, curator, Delhi Zoo. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Just three months shy of her 60th birthday, Rita, the oldest chimpanzee in India — and the only one in Delhi zoo — was put to rest on Tuesday.

Delhi zoo keepers and senior officials said that her motionless body was barely visible as she lay mounted in garlands, ready to be incinerated.

On Wednesday, the green expanse where the chimpanzee played around in her prime days lay drearily vacant. Rita’s name was also painted over from the description board that directs visitors to ‘enclosure number two’—her home.

Rita will, however, be immortalised in the 176-acre zoological park in the form of a statue that the zoo officials plan to erect in her memory. But her keepers and doctors say that her smile, occasional moodiness and spirit cannot be captured by a stone structure.

“We have decided to come up with Rita’s statue on her birthday. It will be a tribute to her,” said RA Khan, curator, Delhi Zoo.

A caretaker recalls how the ape’s condition had slowly been deteriorating in the last few months. From a happy and lively resident of her enclosure, he saw Rita withdrawing from her routine. In fact, in the last one month, visitors to the zoo barely saw her outside as she preferred to remain confined to her cage.

“She had become very territorial. Over time, we even had trouble getting her out so that we could clean her cage. We would sneak in and clean when she was taken for her routine checkups at the veterinary centre,” said a keeper, who had been taking care of Rita since 2006.

On December 15, Rita would’ve celebrated her 60th birthday, surpassing several of her counterparts in the wilderness. Born in Amsterdam zoo in 1960, and brought to Delhi on February 27, 1964 in exchange for domestic cranes, Rita has seen love, loss and loneliness.

As a young chimpanzee, she was introduced to three male chimpanzees for mating, but it was not until 1974 that she met her “true mate” Max — a dark haired, well-built adult male.

Between 1977 and 1981, Rita bore four children with Max. Sadly, none of them survived. Former officials remember that when her second child died, within days of its birth, she kept her newborn’s body close and would not let anyone near. Only the decomposed body could be collected for postmortem after 10 days.

Records only show, “cause of death not found.”

Former zoo veterinarian Paneer Selvam, who had brought Rita back for her second stint at the Delhi zoo from Chhatbir in Punjab in 2006, remembers her as a “cooperative, lovable and one of his favourites”.

“She was very active and would mingle with people very quickly. I still remember that the best way to get around her was to feed her favourite drinks—Fanta, Frooti and ice creams,” he said.

Selvam said that after Max was sent to Jaipur, Rita could not “hit it off” with another mate.

“Most males after that were younger to her and were not competitive enough to mate with her,” he said.

Not just Delhi, but her caretakers in Punjab — where she spent 16 years — said that at the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, she was the “centre of attraction”.

“She came to us as an adult and lived for almost two decades. She would respond to people waving and addressing her by her name, which made her a favourite among visitors,” said Harpal Singh, in-charge animal management range-cum-zoo education officer of the zoo.

She was ladylike, sensitive and emotional with IQ levels close to a human. While she was there, she kept the officials on their toes at all times.

“She could discern if she was being fed medicine or a vaccine in the garb of food and would throw it away. I still have her memories fresh and remember parting with her in exchange for Rustom (the male chimp who was sent to Punjab from Delhi),” he said.

Her enclosure, which was to be the venue for her ‘big 60th bash’ now lays vacant and awaits a new occupant. But authorities are not sure if it will be another chimpanzee.