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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: monkeywire AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Stuffed gorilla stolen from Charleston store
  • Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 21:35:55 -0500


The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)

September 18, 2001 Tuesday

SECTION: B; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: Stuffed gorilla worth $500 taken from downtown store

BYLINE: DENESHIA GRAHAM; Of The Post and Courier Staff

BODY:

"Koko," a 4-foot-tall stuffed gorilla, was ape-napped Saturday from her perch outside Resortworks 2 on Church Street. Charleston police say an unidentified man grabbed the gorilla, tossed it in a car and then sped off at 4 p.m.

The stuffed primate, valued at $500, was last seen wearing a hot pink sweat shirt with a Charleston logo, police said.

Koko was something of a local landmark, spending its days lounging along the sidewalk in a director's chair. "We've had a lot of people come in saying 'where's the gorilla,' " Sara Boughter, a store employee, said. "It's a shame."

Boughter was in the store Saturday and witnessed the theft. She saw a man in a white T-shirt and a blue baseball cap run down the sidewalk and snatch Koko. The man also stole Koko's chair.

The abductor drove off with the gorilla in a white two-door Honda with Ohio license plates, police said.

Koko was expensive because of her size and because it represented the real-life California gorilla of the same name, made famous in 1972 for communicating through sign language, Boughter said. Part of the proceeds from the sale were to go to the Gorilla Foundation/ Koko.org, she said, to teach gorillas sign language.







  • Stuffed gorilla stolen from Charleston store, Carrie McLaren, 09/24/2001

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