Jim Cronin (zoo keeper)
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Jim Cronin MBE |
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| Born |
James Michael Cronin 15 November 1951 Yonkers, New York, United States |
| Died | 17 March 2007 (aged 55) |
| Occupation | zookeeper |
| Years active | 1987–2007 |
| Known for | Monkey World |
| Spouse(s) | Ros Cronin (?-?) (divorced) Alison Cronin (m. 1996–2007) (his death) |
| Children | 1 |
James "Jim" Michael Cronin MBE (15 November 1951 – 17 March 2007) was the American co-founder in 1987 of Monkey World in Dorset, England, a sanctuary for abused and neglected primates. He was widely acknowledged as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and in the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting them from illegal trade and experimentation.
Cronin was awarded an honorary MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 for services to animal welfare.
Cronin was born in Yonkers, New York to Italian-Irish parents. The son of a union official, he was educated at St Denis School and Lincoln High School. He had a number of jobs after leaving school before becoming a keeper at Bronx Zoo in the 1970s. Whilst working there he realized he wanted to work with animals. In 1980 he moved to Kent in the UK to work in John Aspinall's zoo.
Cronin started his work with primates through working as a zoo keeper in various zoos. In 1980 he came to Britain where he acquired a job as a zoo keeper at John Aspinall's zoo at Howletts, where he perfected his skills of primate rehabilitation and care. John Aspinall had set up a breeding programme for gorillas which were an endangered species. Cronin's passion for working with primates made him quite successful in his career and encouraged him to have an ambition of one day building a safe haven for mistreated primates. During his years working at John Aspinall's Zoo, he gave himself the necessary experience of dealing with apes on a daily basis in his career path of working with them as well as small monkeys and their complex life necessities.
It was during Cronin's years working as a zoo keeper at the Howletts Zoo that he was notified about the plight of chimps being abused. These African great apes were being smuggled from the wild by illegal poachers and being transported abroad to Europe, where the young chimpanzees were being purchased then used as photographic props by photographers on beach resorts in Spain. These chimps would suffer horrible abuse - having their teeth knocked out to prevent them biting tourists, drugged to remain sedate, and physically beaten to remain submissive and easy to handle before growing too big and being killed to be simply replaced by another. Cronin was infuriated by the fate that these magnificent apes encountered and decided to dedicate his life in trying to solve the problem.
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