Butch exact
birthdate unknown
Butch was captured as an infant in Africa in 1973 and was shipped to a dealer in New York.
He was then
sold to an animal trainer and spent more than a decade performing
in the The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in a group of four
chimpanzees.
When the circus trainer died suddenly of a heart attack, Butch was
sent by the trainer’s widow to a bio-medical research facility
along with the other chimpanzees in the act. 
In less than a year,
some animal welfare organizations
secured their release from the lab, and along with three other chimpanzees, Butch was sent to a small roadside zoo in
North Florida
for unwanted circus animals. Butch
spent thirteen years there until wildlife authorities shut down
the zoo. Two of the older circus chimpanzees had died a few years
earlier, and the other survivor was Chipper.
Chimpanzees
in circus acts are sometimes forced to do tricks which are
unnatural to them (Butch drove a motorcycle), and
the methods used to make these very strong primates “perform”
are sometimes abusive and hurtful. Most of Butch’s teeth were pulled to keep him from biting
his trainer. Jane
Goodall and Dale Peterson wrote about Butch, Chipper, and the
other chimpanzees in that circus act in
their book Visions of Caliban.
These two
castrated males arrived at their permanent
home at the Center’s
sanctuary in October 2000.
Because of years in a very tiny cage, Butch had some difficulty
walking and "scooted" everywhere when he arrived at the
Center. Even
though Butch’s days at the sanctuary now are spent lazing in the
sun, roaming through the woods in the tunnel-chutes, and playing
with Chipper, he still has “ghosts.”
No matter what he’s doing, he frequently looks back over
his shoulder to see if someone is coming up behind him, even when
no one is there.
Butch has a mostly toothless smile, a very long face, and a big
round belly. He likes to eat and will eagerly take every food item
he is offered. His favorites are fruits, carrots, and collard
greens. He is an expert nest-builder and can be seen sitting
happily in a huge mound of pine needles grooming in the sunlight
during moments of rest.