New orang settles into Dudley Zoo (From Stourbridge News)
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New orang settles into Dudley Zoo
9:00am Sunday 9th September 2012 in News
Pat Picken hands over the lifesize orang utan toy to Dudley Zoo Presenter Langan Turner.
A NEW orang utan is settling into a new home at Dudley Zoo after spending the last three decades living in a Sandwell semi.
However the latest arrival won’t be boosting the attraction’s banana bill, as he is a lifesize cuddly toy who has been donated by a lady from West Bromwich.
Head of media and communications, Jill Hitchman, said: "When we received a phone call offering us an orang utan we thought it was a joke. "
Pat Picken said it had been in her house since the 1980s and for the past 20 years had been sitting in an armchair in her bedroom, then she explained it was a giant toy she had won in a promotional raffle in a supermarket and she thought it was time it moved on and hoped zoo education staff might find it useful.
"We offered to send the zoo van and a crate over to pick it up but she insisted bringing it over in her son's car and handing the great ape over to presentation staff herself."
The giant stuffed toy is now living in the Rainforest Room in the Discovery Centre education block, where he is helping presenters in their daily conservation talks.
