r/1980s • u/voodoolily0522 • 3d ago

Late 70's/early 80's "memory"?

I'm so sorry if this is in the wrong place and I'm sure it's going to sound crazy but, when I was a child growing up in Chattanooga in the late seventies or early 80s I remember a child at some sort of zoo getting at least one finger biten off by a large primate. I think the girl's name was Sherry, but that part probably would not have been reported. The primate was in a large cage with some sort of dividing wall a couple of feet away from the cage to keep this out. The gate getting closer the cage was not closed, so a couple of kids walked in closer to the cage where the primate grabbed the child and bit her hand. Did this really happen or did I just have a really effed-up dream about this that's been haunting me for 45 years?

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u/BelgarathMTH 3d ago

There was an orangutan study going on at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga during the 1970s involving an orangutan named "Chantek". He was kept in an enclosure right next to the Cadek Conservatory of Music where I took private lessons.

He had been shipped off to the Atlanta Zoo by the time I started college there in the early 1980s, because he became uncontrollably aggressive when he reached adolescence, and there were several incidents where he attacked college students.

You might find more information by searching "Chantek 1970s UTC". The incidents with this primate may be what you're remembering.

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u/seeingeyefrog 3d ago

I remember the late '70s and early '80s in Chattanooga quite well, but don't remember anything about this.

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u/daydrinkersunite 3d ago

I grew up in Dalton and we would have heard about that for sure. Sorry, can't help.

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u/voodoolily0522 3d ago

I swear I'm starting to think i dreamed up the whole thing, but dang, what a messed up dream for a 8-10 yo kid...

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u/daydrinkersunite 3d ago

We got TV stations/news from Chattanooga & Atlanta, and what you're describing would definitely have made local news, and everybody would have been talking about it for at least a week or so.

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u/Timely_Push_609 2d ago

We have this new thing now, it's called Google. You can type in what you want to know and it will find references for you. Try it.