Posted on 07/01/2008 1:13:17 PM PDT by socal_parrot

Famed chimp 'Moe' escapes into forest

As of Monday, there was still no sign of Moe in the San Bernardino National Forest, but there were plenty of rumors about the missing chimp.

Water was running and peanuts were missing at the Gem Ranch on Cajon Boulevard, and a dead chicken was found in the same area where Moe disappeared.

Someone even called from Rancho Cucamonga saying there had been a possible Moe sighting in the caller's yard.

Amidst the mayhem and the media circus at the scene, animal control officers and those close to Moe continued their search for the celebrity chimp, who escaped Friday from his cage at an animal rental company near Devore.

Michael McCasland, a friend of Moe's West Covina owners, said they hoped to find the chimp soon. Moe has not lived in the wild since he was a baby.

"We are still looking for him and think he is hunkered down close to a water source," he said. "Eventually we hope that he will just come home."

Animal control officers have been on the scene since Saturday.

Brian Cronin, division chief for San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control, emphasized the chimp is not a threat.

I can find no news follow ups. The exotic animal place that Moe escaped from has no mention of him and no current chimps. Commentators at the time suggested that he might fall victim to local rattlesnakes which are common there. The area was also later devastated by a brush fire causing the animals to be evacuated by helicopter. Moe, of course, could have been far away by then. This was not a wild chimpanzee though and it seems strange that he disappeared. I would suspect that he was recaptured, kidnapped, and smuggled elsewhere by parties unknown. But, he could have died of any number of causes and never been found.
Moe was quite old for a chimp, being 43. They normally live about 45 years in the wild.