Meet Ivan: The Tacoma gorilla who changed the world - KING 5 Evening
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2020
- Ivan, one of the most famous gorillas in the world, grew up and lived most of his life in the Tacoma area. Now his life story has inspired a new movie called "The One And Only Ivan", streaming on Disney Plus.
In his hometown, Ivan is remembered as the gorilla at the B&I Circus Store, but he was more like a brother to a man named Larry Johnston who shared his remarkable, rarely seen home movies with us.
The year is 1964 and Larry Johnston's parents- licensed zookeepers- bring a baby gorilla named Ivan into their South Tacoma home.
“It wasn't like having a dog or a cat for your pet,” says Johnston. “It was this little brother who was a constant bundle of energy, looking to get into trouble and discovering things.
“He loved to roughhouse. He absolutely loved to wrestle and tumble.
“If there was a chair with upholstery he wanted to see what was inside so he would tear it apart.”
For three years the Johnstons raised Ivan like a son. They take him to work at the B&I pet store they manage Larry's mom, Lois, tickles Ivan, feeds him plates of spaghetti and takes him to the playground.
“I had a pet that probably nobody else in the world had,” Johnston says. “But it was also a massive responsibility for a 13-year-old. I was his alpha and in the evenings he did not want me gone".
But as Ivan grows, the destruction at home adds up. Experts convince the Johnstons to cage Ivan in a large steel trailer at the B&I Circus Store. To ease Ivan into his new home, Johnston spends nights with him.
“It took about two and a half months of me sleeping in the cage separated by bars and then slowly moving my cot out,” Johnston says.
This is where Ivan would spend the next 27 years, entertaining visitors like Earl Borgert, whose grandparents own the B&I.
“We would go and visit him,” Borgert says, “and we would look and look ‘Where is Ivan? where is Ivan?’ and he would come out and pound the glass and scare every single one of us !”
But attitudes change. Soon animal rights protesters appear at the B&I.
“The controversy that it is cruel to cage these wonderful animals? I accept that,” says Johnston. “But in the 60’s it was acceptable.”
Michael Jackson even enters the Ivan story, offering to buy the gorilla for his Neverland Ranch. But Jackson fails to get the necessary permits. In 1995, now world-famous, Ivan finally moves to Zoo Atlanta to live among other gorillas.
Though he always seems more at ease with people.
“He was the only gorilla that would actually approach and engage with people,” says Borgert.
In 2012 Ivan dies at the age of 50. A bronze statue outside Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium is just one part of Ivan's legacy. Johnston and Bogert have also established the I.V.A.N. Foundation, to raise scholarship money for northwest students who want to help Western Lowland gorillas in the wild. They also hope to return some of Ivan's ashes to Africa.
Today Ivan is remembered for capturing the hearts of fans and revealing the gentle nature of gorillas.
But for Larry Johnston Ivan will always be more like a brother.
“If you never had a chance to meet Ivan I'm sorry for you,” says Johnston, “because he was such a special little guy.”
#ivanthegorilla #animals #k5evening
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I worked at the B&I pet store in 83-85 and would visit Ivan frequently on my breaks, He seemed so sad and I was absolutely relieved when he went to the Woodland park reserve and then to Atlanta. He was very gentle when taking fruit from you and he would hold your hand so lovingly. I'm just happy the last years of his life were not spent in the concrete prison that idiots confined him to. Love you beautiful Ivan ❤️🙏
Can’t still believe he live in a cage for 27 years, and almost every single person that visit thinking it was ok. It was so irresponsible of the the owners and the owner of the stupid place too. Declining every petition to helping this enormous majestic animal.
I was there at the same time
Anyone came here right after finished Ivan's movie? Did it gives you tears of joy? Comment and like, lets talk. Ivan really impacted a lot of people's hearts towards saving the silverbacks.
Lol, conveniently yes d:
Oh god. I just watch movie now. He makes me crying. It’s really give me tears. Best touching movie after n ever 🦍🧡
@@febbyayuofficial7637 There is something that explains the apes are in our DNA tree, but no one knows only God know. Hahaha, glad you watched the movie. RIP Ivan
The Disney Ivan movie isn’t even remotely close to the real story
It’s not LOVE to rip a baby away from its mom, it’s selfish exploitation to keep exotic animals. If you love them, let them live free in the wild and protect them and the environment.Infuriating! So happy he was humanely retired. It’s criminal how he was imprisoned, no matter how they claim to “Love” him, I’m so glad they protested.He DESERVED better
I remember seeing Ivan every week as a kid unless we were on vacation .
you are lucky
Larry Johnston is my grandfather and I can confirm he never stops talking about sweet old Ivan😊☺️🥰
My name is also Larry, I have nothing to do with Ivan but I thought it was funny. I did however get to visit Ivan at 4 or 5 years old one time right before he got moved. I don’t remember too much but it was very dark and he was enclosed. I felt bad for him even as a kid. I’m glad he got to live out his remaining years in the proper wild.
We moved to Parkland and were stationed at McChord AFB just down the road from the B&I 1973-1970. We visited Ivan many times and it was always sad to see him stuck in his glass cage.
This family should have been arrested for what it did to that animal.
I agree
the WHOLE family?
I visited Tacoma in the 80's and I saw Ivan a lot, I was always so shocked at how big he was.
Awe I miss Ivan. ♡♡♡ I remember visiting him so many times at B&I. My mom would shop around and Ivan would babysit me (joke)... I would watch him for hours. He was amazing. I was happy when he moved to another location.... He always looked so sad in the shopping center. I never did make it to Georgia to see him before he passed. RIP beautiful Ivan ♡
Are you that kid that drew with Ivan
I used to play with Ivan before he was transferred to Atlanta! We used to paint together and share snacks ❤ he had the most gentle soul, I was his little baby and he wouldn't let anyone touch me.
I have so many memories as a little girl visiting him at the store. I loved him but hated seeing him locked up. My parents would shop and I would go talk to him. ❤😢
What did you say to him?
I remember Ivan.
what a wonderful animal im happy met other gorillas
This is a heartwarming story
Well that was depressing. I, too, saw Ivan, when I was a child. Now, though, looking back at his life - bonded with a human family, moved to what was essentially a prison, then "freed" to live in an unnatural enclosure among animals he doesn't identify with, far from those who raised him - I see how tragic it all was. I understand those who cared for him had good intentions, and a zoo was probably better than a cage in a department store, but still it makes me very sad.
lucky, Well sadly he is no longer alive but i just saw the movie and im happy that he lived a great last few years.
@@broctheil4744 yea but the bottom line is he didn’t reproduce. Solitude made him into a submissive silverback who got friend zoned instead of being a dominant alpha by nature . Paint the picture as good as you want , but what happened to Ivan was a crime & there’s absolutely no way he acted as a normal gorilla. He suffered for absolutely no reason whatsoever , he did nothing wrong but because some selfish person across the world figured he had the right to decide what is best for him.
I never seen Ivan but as a child I had always long to, it’s to bad he was not put in a Washington zoo special since now that you said he could not reproduce because than at least the people who grew up with Ivan and have those memories of Ivan like my parents could have shared that experience with their kids seeing how much more happy he was with open space
@@NinoG053It was a sad situation and I truly believe he was poached/stolen from his family. But he did have kids at the Atlanta zoo. Some are actually still living there. He was well taken care off.
I love ivan movie so much
I have a picture of myself, My father and my brother on the front page of the paper in 1984 when the Seahawks went to the playoffs( but didn't make it to the Super Bowl). we were at the airport to welcome them home. I was holding a sign that said "we believe 1985" - good times.
Oh my goodness I would’ve loved to met Ivan I would love to play with him and hugged him the whole day or many days with him oh this is so precious he is very precious thank God you were like his big brother and took good loving care of him what a loving animal he’s precious thank you so much for sharing🥰🙏🌅💕🦋
My kid went to see the play and now doing the book report on him 💝 Through my eyes Ivan is smiling down and seeing the impact he had in his time on earth and this pleases him, I'm in tears writing this 🦍💝🕯
You’re a weirdo. Gorillas are not humans, they don’t believe in a stupid thing called religion with a sky daddy. Ivan is dead. He’s not smiling at shit.
@UCz-mxq35g6C8c_gZ4QGXeTg shut. the. fuck. up.
@@NinoG053 look at the comment above this.
Dream come true.
Before seeing this video, I felt so infuriated about what was done to Ivan. After, it makes it a little better.
Yes, it still so sad he was all caged up, but I see that he was so fund of his family and he was loved.
However, we must learn how to love and let go.
We recently visited Atlanta zoo and learned he had kids ❤ Some are actually living at the zoo. He was well taken care of his golden years ❤
Me too! I was stationed at ft. Lewis
Thank you for your service!! You would have loved him!!
Rip Ivan from a Tacoma native 😪
this was so sad i never met him and know im regretting it
I remember seeing him at b&i when I was about 7!
Ivan, spero che almeno adesso riposi in pace perché eri e sei un Anima innocente!!! R.I.P. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
I remember seeing him at the B&I in the eighties RIP big fella.
My father worked at the hardware store there
It was much nicer there too! Now the B&I is a sad defunct shopping center
I remember they had a carousel
They still have that carousel to this day
Yes he was
Sadly in 1973 I took my daughter in her stroller to go see him at what I believe was then called the B and I circus store. It was heartbreaking. He was miserable. I'm glad he finally got out of that horrible little cage. The rest of his life at Zoo Atlanta was 100% better than in the small gray cage. However I always wonder if he had memories of watching his family be murdered, so he and his sister could be sold. Sad still, happening everyday. Horrific!
i wish i could see Ivan
Ivan the Gorilla was lucky to have been raised for the 50yrs of his life....so fortunate to be alive....he didn't know any difference and wouldn't have survived if he had been released into the "wild"....many humans never enjoy the happiness that he had.....
LoL that’s a nice spin you put on it. You have to be delusional if you believe yourself.
He is fortunate to have lived 50 years. Just because he couldn't be released back into the wild doesn't mean he should have been imprisoned for 27 years in an insufficient, cement floored space for that long in a strip mall!!. That is NOT happiness !!!! That place is a shit hole!! It's not very large either. Can you imagine?????? I know !! I lived in Tacoma and saw poor miserable Ivan many times. And I can guarantee you, he did know the difference once he got transferred to a zoo. At lease he was in a very much more happy environment with other gorilla's and animals. You can grow up living in a very poor sad environment with a lot of love and be happy. If you live in prison for 27 years in the condition that Ivan lived in.... that is NOT fortunate!!
my dad saw ivan at the b&i
For the first 3 years he gets used to love and a good life, then he’s thrown into prison.
Took my kids there many times
Sad.
This whole story makes my heart ache knowing that he was taken as a baby for some evil humans pleasure. None of this would have ever happened if they would've just left him with his family. Animals are good, a lot of humans are bad. All for greed ;(
So true, it was selfish of them. And to say they loved him and couple of years later put him in a cage and make money of out of him instead of doing the right thing and donating him to a zoo. I guess they loved the money more than Ivan.
They did love Ivan like any pet as did the people who came to see him and as did the people who helped keep him active they all have fond memories of him and tell their children about him, I’m one of those children and I’m sad they did not keep him at the Tacoma zoo so that all who loved him could have gone to see him i too wish I could have seen the Gorilla called Ivan that touched so many🦍
I grew up going to see him at the b&i when I was a kids
I never get to meet ivan
Larrys man is my grandpa
There is one of my fan called Iran
A Disney movie based in tacoma? Weird!
Lol! I thought the same thing. I lived in Tacoma from '78-'88. We saw Ivan many times, and we even went on the waterslides when that was still functional (1985ish?) We left about the time the gangs moved into town.
So how did he change “the world”
He sparked a movement and changed how we see animals in captivity
He didn't. People just want to feel like their treatment of him was somehow beneficial and not what it was.
@@pgnrssll Exactly ! Please don't believe that fairytale story. Either way.. if it did spark a movement, I hope it did , then that's amazing. He didn't spark anything, he was the monster that cage poor Ivan for 27 years. He gets NO credit!!
Where's mack
Que crueldade!! 27 anos é muito tempo, é tudo muito absurdo, faltou empatia, não acredito nesse amor que prende, privou esse gorila de ter crescido com seus semelhantes em uma tropa, o ser humano é egoísta, perverso, o ser humano é o ser mais hediondo da face da terra, a família e algumas pessoas ainda acham que foram bons para esse gorila, que insanidade, é revoltante!
The humans tried to care for Ivan in the best way they knew for that time period. He would never survive in the wild after being brought up around people so they did the next best thing. Just finished seeing the movie and still feeling emotional. Humans need to learn to treat ALL animals with gentleness... I think Ivan had a good life. God bless those that tried to cared and protect him....
Don't believe that fairytale story!! Maybe the life after he lived in the zoo when he was transferred, I can imagine he thought he was in paradise compared to that shit hole he was in for 27 years. It's common sense!! You don't imprison a huge silverback gorilla in a a small cement caged environment ...inside a small strip mall shit hole!! That is cruel!! RIP Poor Ivan!
I’m not happy about the owner why he left Ivan in the B&I shop for 27 yrs, after that he show up for good man shame on him
Maybe the reason is that no zoo in the country wanted a older solitary male gorilla. But they all wanted Ivan after Michel Jackson got interested in him.
Ivan shouldn't have left his real home in the jungle. Why people got to be selfish and want a baby gorilla did they think that was a cool idea..no it was so wrong. That gorilla was so unhappy, when people would look into his window he would get angry and run and bang on it. The saddest thing i ever heard. Ivan the gorilla RIP