SAMY
 

Sad biography

Adult chimpanzees, especially males, are extremely dangerous and aggressive animals, several times stronger than humans. By walking around the city twice without attacking or harming anyone, Samy showed his greatness.

Chimpanzee Samy, a monkey who very quickly became a pet of all Belgraders, arrived at the Garden on January 12, 1988. It was a large male with a dark face and thick black hair. The smart look gave off a mature, experienced animal. Frightened by the new, unknown environment, in the first days he constantly let it be known by his aggressive behavior that he was no joke, and then he got used to the new accommodation and became calmer and friendlier.

The accommodation was by no means enviable. It was a small, unsightly cage, the bars of which had to be reinforced to withstand the strength of an adult chimpanzee. The doors are additionally secured with thick chains at each corner and strong padlocks. It turned out that the security measures taken were not enough. Samy very quickly, twice, managed to break the bars, escape from the cage and walk through the very center of Belgrade. He became famous. The videos of his capture went around the world - his escapes were broadcast all over the world, the British VVS was among the first to tell the public about the "meeting" attended by about ten thousand people.

Samy was the first to organize a rally in Belgrade, and then they started to copy him ineptly, using his revolutionary experience for other purposes...

He escaped for the first time on February 21, 1988, around 8:00 p.m., causing quite a commotion when he headed towards the House of JNA through the streets of Dorćol - Gospodar Jevremova and Kralja Petra, followed closely by the police and zookeepers. The monkey nonchalantly came to the "Balkan" cinema. Passers-by realized that it was not just a "cute monkey" when it bristled and ran to meet them with open arms. Panic arose, people ran away without regard, and women pinned children against the walls of buildings, making way for the chimpanzees. Then he headed straight for the Terasian tunnel, but the policemen and garden workers somehow managed to direct him towards Kalemegdan. Accompanied by a dozen police cars and patrols, which paved the way for him with the aim of simultaneously protecting the citizens and returning the escaped animal unharmed to the cage, Samy reached Studentski Square on Vasa Čarapića Street. Directly after him, director Vuk Bojović came from home (around 9:00 p.m.). He managed to persuade Samy by talking to him, take him by the hand and with the words: "Come on Samy, let's go home", lead him into his car, personally drive him to the Garden and put him in the cage. This is an admirable act. Nowhere in the world has it been recorded that someone was allowed to take an adult chimpanzee, whom he knew very briefly and superficially, into his car and drive around the city. To anyone who knows the behavior, nature and strength of those animals, it is clear that it was a matter of great risk and enormous courage.

On February 23, 1988, at 10:00 a.m., Samy's second escape took place. He broke the bars of his cage again and calmly came to the room where the garden workers had breakfast (the dining room was then an extension of the old monkey house). He opened the door and peered inside curiously. The workers, seeing him, started pushing and shouting to jump out of the window, and Samy, confused by this reaction, quickly went out the door and again met the same workers, who this time in an even greater panic started through the same window to they hop back into the dining room. Samy then jumped over the garden fence and started walking down the street to the cheering and chanting of the workers of the "Beko" factory and the students of the "Petar Drapšin" High School of Mechanical Engineering, who, seeing him through the window, began to leave the factories and classrooms. Several workers from the garden followed him with large nets, in order not to block his path and direct him back to the Garden. Passing between the trucks and trams that stopped at the traffic lights and from which the passengers watched him in amazement, he took the opportunity to resist with his fists against the truck and the tram and rocked them a little, just enough to show how strong he was. The workers of the garden took advantage of that moment and stopped with nets and, as it were, caught him in a hoop, but in a second Samy overcame that obstacle as well. The workers again blocked his way with nets and thus directed him to enter the yard at Cara Dušana Street no. 33, where he climbed first on a cherry tree, and later on the roof of the garage. As soon as the news about his escape again was published in the electronic media, about four thousand people flocked to Dušanova Street, but the number continued to increase. Citizens carried slogans: "Samy, we are with you!", "Samy, you are the real one!", "Samy, don't come down!", "Don't give up, Samy!"... Windows, balconies, terraces, houstons, sidewalks , the road, the trees - everything was studded with people. There was loud cheering in the style of "Take care, Samy!", "We won't give you up, Samy!"... The street was blocked, trams and buses stopped, cars collided... Until then, such a large number of journalists, photojournalists, videographers had never been seen anywhere. , reporters... The radio stations broadcast the events in Dorćol directly, minute by minute. After a long and unsuccessful persuasion, it was decided to put Samy to sleep and thus return to the cage. The Belgrade Zoo didn't have a sedation gun at the time, they had to wait for it to be brought from the Osijek garden. Samy fell asleep around 17.00 when the temperature was already approaching zero. Recovery took several days, with antibiotics and hot teas.

Samy died of a sudden, dangerous illness on September 11, 1992 at one o'clock after midnight. An autopsy revealed that the cause was an intestinal infarction.

All the newspapers reported the sad news. They called him a favorite Belgrade dissident, a moody individual, a great gentleman, a fugitive from Dorćol, an alpha leader, a leader, a children's idol...

We buried him on the lawn across from the entrance to the new monkey house, and soon a monument was erected nearby, a bronze statue that will forever stand in the Garden and remind us of wonderful moments together.