Les Schobert dies at 61; Los Angeles Zoo's former general curator
Les Schobert, a former general curator of the Los Angeles Zoo who advocated more open space and less isolation for elephants, chimpanzees and other animals in captivity, has died. He was 61.
Schobert died Oct. 14 at his home in La Quinta, Calif., said Gretchen Kneeter, his longtime companion. The cause was lung cancer, she said.
Schobert worked in zoos for nearly 30 years and was an outspoken critic of some zoo practices. He wanted animals to live in spaces that came close to their natural habitat, rather than in tile or concrete cages. He also advocated community living for animals that are naturally inclined to form social groups.
"Les was a visionary," said Catherine Doyle of In Defense of Animals, a nonprofit animal welfare group. "He was not against animals living in captivity, but he had a mission, to improve living conditions for them."
Schobert's main interest was primates. As general curator of animals at the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro starting in 1978, he took an interest in the plight of a chimp named Ham, a minor celebrity among zoo animals. Ham had been launched into space by NASA in 1961, before any astronauts made the trip, and spent the next 17 years at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where he led a solitary life.
Ham "had not seen another chimpanzee since he arrived in D.C.," Schobert said in a 2006 lecture to members of the Elephant Advocates Rally. He "knew nothing about being a real chimpanzee," Schobert said of Ham.
Schobert arranged to move Ham to the North Carolina zoo, where the chimps inhabited close to an acre of land. The loner was integrated into the group and lived with them until he died of a heart attack in 1983.
"Les was very proud of what he did for Ham," Doyle said.
Schobert also served as the chimpanzee studbook coordinator for North America while he was curator of the North Carolina zoo. Starting in 1989, he oversaw the project, which involved collecting genealogies, medical histories and other data on some 300 captive chimpanzees in the United States.
"I have a great deal of respect for his commitment to the chimpanzee as a species and his concern for individual animals," famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall said when Schobert began the study.
Although primates were his main interest, Schobert became increasingly knowledgeable about elephants through his career. In the late 1970s, he helped design a new elephant exhibit for the North Carolina zoo that spanned three acres and allowed the zoo's five elephants to roam freely.
