Gorilla Adopted By Childless Couple In France (VIDEO)

Pierre and Elianne Thivillon don’t have any children. But they do have a 265-pound gorilla.

The couple, both zookeepers, took in Digit 13 years ago, when her biological mother refused to breastfeed. They already had experience working with gorillas, but acknowledge that it’s not an easy job.

New Zealand’s News 3 reports that the couple compares raising Digit to raising a child, in terms of the impact on their social life. There are no more nights out to the movies or restaurants, but they don’t seem to mind.

BBC News reports that during the day, Digit spends her time at the Saint Martin la Plaine Zoo in France. In the evenings, she returns home to her adopted parents, where she enjoys sleeping in their bed.

According to New Zealand’s News 3, the couple also once cared for Digit’s brother, Ginko, but he became aggressive and they had to return him to the zoo. "Life was very difficult a few days after Ginko left. We got used to seeing him everyday. He slept near us, we had breakfast together, we had a good time together and it was a real pleasure. It was very hard to see him go," Pierre told the news organization.

But Digit’s relationship to the couple appears to be quite loving, and video captures Digit hugging Pierre and even planting a kiss on him. As Pierre says, “It’s going very well. We have a 13-year-old relationship with Digit, so obviously we’ve created a very strong bond with each other.”

Although Digit’s story is a unique situation, keeping wild animals in human households can be frowned upon. 17-year-old Felicia Frisco sleeps with a Bengal tiger in her bed, and questions were raised over whether or not the animal should be kept in captivity. Unfortunately though, a handler explained, "There's nowhere for a tiger to live in the wild anymore."

As for gorillas, many are endangered or threatened. For example, mountain gorillas in Central Africa are threatened by the Human Metapneumovirus which causes deadly respiratory diseases in humans and can be passed on to mountain gorillas.

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Comments

[FrankfurtSirens]

08:26 AM on 07/05/2011

The gorilla will probably kill them one day in a fit of anger.

As nice as they can be, they are animals, not people. Mammals do experience emotion, like rage, but they are beholden to it, they don't have the intellect to overcome.

This is the sad reality some hippies don't want to face, even though I admire their persistence.

[RockmanRotties]

07:46 PM on 07/04/2011

What a beautiful gorillas. I loved them. They are awesome. :)

[theaustralian]

04:34 AM on 07/03/2011

They're gonna be in trouble when they tell her she cant date till she's 18.

[emrichards]

01:55 AM on 07/02/2011

I doubt the gorilla will harm anyone. You have to remember, its a female, and Gorillas are much closer to humans on an evolutionary scale than chimpanzees (which are usually the primates that you see in the news for attacking people). Plus, if Digit was going to become aggressive, she most likely would have done so much earlier, like the other one.

[Rudee]

06:47 PM on 07/02/2011

Hmmm... sounds to me like these two have a little jungle fever going on and they are up to some Monkey business in the boudoir!

[RockmanRotties]

07:46 PM on 07/04/2011

I disagreed with ou.. Humans are not an evolutionary closer to Gorillas and Chimpanzees at all. We are God's image and there are no evidence for cavemen either.

[Gerald OHare]

08:15 PM on 07/01/2011

So how long will it be before the Gorilla decides to rip someones arm off? I can see it now. "He was like a son to me."

[peegan]

06:09 PM on 07/01/2011

I hope this ends well

[Jeffery Bohlender]

04:31 PM on 07/01/2011

Very bad idea.

[PedroLeon]

04:18 PM on 07/01/2011

I was thinking some cynical things until the last shot where the gorilla gives the guy a hug. Awesome.

[FrankfurtSirens]

08:28 AM on 07/05/2011

Doesn't change any facts.

They, like we, are very emotional, and the gorilla will get mad eventually and do something tragic.

[BebeLush]

03:37 PM on 07/01/2011

Umkay.

[deckercat]

03:02 PM on 07/01/2011

Cleaning up cat poop doesn't seem so bad anymore.

[champions1]

02:32 PM on 07/01/2011

there are some st oopid people here today

[Willie Plasencia]

09:26 AM on 07/01/2011

Love animals...but they are playing with fire as far as I am concerned.

[PedroLeon]

04:19 PM on 07/01/2011

We all heard about the American woman who received a face transplant after her chimp attacked her. We all want a primate as a pet, but it's just not smart.

[itvending]

08:43 AM on 07/01/2011

Which one is the gorilla.....?

[juan354]

04:00 AM on 07/01/2011

A+ You're right; It does looks like George W. Bush..

[bigshotlawyer]

02:00 AM on 07/01/2011

I think it is awesome they adopted this brute, I hope they are not stupid enough however to have a failsafe (tranq slides, firearms) at all times like all responsible RA owners.