- Item
- 1973-09-05
Part of Richards Studio Photographs
A playful Ivan the gorilla approached the camera in September of 1973. For 27 years, from 1967-1994, Ivan was the most famous resident of the B&I Circus Store, 8012 South Tacoma Way. Store owner Earl (E.L.) Irwin purchased Ivan and another infant gorilla from an animal trainer in the Congo in 1964. The pair were intended to publicize the B&I. The female Western Lowland gorilla died soon after arrival, but Ivan became a favorite of the Irwin family and took up residence at their house. By 1967, Ivan's strength, natural curiosity and playfulness ruled him out as a house pet and he went to live at the B&I full time. As attitudes toward captive animals changed with the time, Ivan's fans became the core of a "free the gorilla" movement. In 1994, the Irwin family donated Ivan to the Woodland Park Zoo. The Western Lowland gorilla was on permanent loan to the Atlanta Zoo, where he died on Monday, August 20, 2012 .
Gorillas; B&I Circus Store (Tacoma);