Skopje zoo’s chimp returns after recovering from depression

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Koko the chimpanzee, once a star in Skopje’s zoo, has returned home after spending 10 years in the Netherlands recovering from depression, the zoo says.

Koko was reunited with his keeper, Dragan Trajkovski, on Thursday. Trajkovski said he was overjoyed to see the chimp again, and by Koko recognizing him after a decade away.

Koko was born in the zoo of North Macedonia’s capital Skopje in 1995. His mother died of tuberculosis two years later, and the young chimp began suffering from depression and loneliness. Trajkovski tried parenting him but for years his condition did not improve. Eventually a Netherlands-based animal rescue group, Animal Advocacy and Protection, was contacted and Koko was transferred to their facilities in the Netherlands in 2009 to recover.