Zoo Goes Ape to Raise Funds for Rain Forest

The San Diego Zoo reported 60 gorillas missing Thursday, but officials aren’t alarmed--the foot-high stuffed pets were hand-delivered only to the best of homes.

Carolyn Pitcairn, a longtime zoo patron, got her gorilla-gram when she answered the doorbell at her La Jolla home.

Judson and Rachel Grosvenor, the hoteliers, received theirs from the Meridian luxury tower’s concierge, who delivered it to their 23rd-floor condominium.

Dallas and Mary Clark, members of one of San Diego’s oldest and most distinguished families, got their ape when Mary had lunch with the zoo’s development chairman.

“He’s charming--reminds me of when I held Jimmy as a baby,” Mary Clark said, noting that the doll closely resembles the zoo’s 15-year-old, 400-pound gorilla, who was born at the Wild Animal Park. “I look at Jimmy now and think, ‘Oh, my!’ ”

The dolls, each of which arrived clutching a gift-wrapped, fund-raising videotape, were intended to evoke warm memories--and, ideally, to prompt zoo benefactors to reach into their deep pockets yet again.

The zoo has recently undertaken the most ambitious construction project in its 74-year history: an African rain forest for gorillas, pygmy chimpanzees, crowned eagles, cherry-crowned mangabeys and dozens of African birds. The demolition and land grading have already begun on the $16-million “Heart of the Zoo II” project. But the zoo has only $5 million set aside for the project.

“Dr. Harry Wegeforth, who founded the zoo in 1916, made a pretty regular practice of planning to run out of money when an exhibit was about halfway built,” said Jeff Jouett, a zoo spokesman. “Then he begged, borrowed and, some say, stole to finish the exhibit. I hope we don’t have to go that far.”

To raise the missing $11 million, the zoo decided to make its first foray into the flashy world of video promotions. The result is a seven-minute film featuring Joan Embery, the zoo’s “good will ambassador” and a frequent animal-toting guest on “The Tonight Show,” and Dr. Terry Maple, director of Zoo Atlanta, which has one of the best gorilla habitats in the country.

The video, which will be mailed, sans gorilla, to 1,000 more zoo benefactors, highlights the importance of captive breeding programs for endangered species such as gorillas. In the past four years, Embery said, only two gorillas have been born in San Diego, where the zoo’s concrete gorilla area was hard and uncomfortable. The zoo’s gorillas are staying at other zoos until the first part of the project is completed in 1991.

The new rain-forest habitat will include climate-controlled bedrooms equipped with bedding materials to simulate nesting spots to encourage breeding. On Thursday, neither Carolyn Pitcairn, Rachel Grosvenor nor Mary Clark had decided whether to help bankroll the African rain forest. But the gorillas seemed to have had the desired effect.

“I have a granddaughter who’s having a birthday this weekend,” Pitcairn said. “But I haven’t decided whether I’m going to be a selfish pig and keep it for myself.”

“It’s darling,” Grosvenor said. “Somebody may get it for Christmas.”