Cassie and Ockie move to the night house

Construction work has been completed on the night house component of the new chimp enclosure at Rockhampton Zoo, and Cassie and Ockie have been transferred to their new digs today.

With an anticipated three to fours weeks of work still to be carried out before the entire enclosure is accessible to the chimps, Cassie and Ockie appear to be settling into the night house well.

The night house is considerably larger than what the brothers are used to - their new environment is more interactive and even has a couple of extra luxuries that we are sure the boys will love.

Repair and construction work has commenced today on the old enclosure, and some minor landscaping work is to be completed in the coming weeks.

Works will also be undertaken to join the new enclosure with the old to create a larger area for the boys to live in - while this work is carried out Cassie and Ockie will not be accessible to the public.

Cassie and Ockie are highly intelligent, social creatures that have been living in the one environment for a significant part of their life and will need time to adjust to their new surroundings.

In the best interests of Cassie and Ockie's welfare, Council is giving them the time to adjust and would expect that the public would respect and appreciate the efforts Zoo Keepers are going to, to ensure the wellbeing of these much loved animals.