EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge announced on Wednesday that its longtime monkey resident, Goober, has died.
He was 34 years old.
“We were lucky enough to throw him a final birthday party, complete with his favorite enrichment and treats,” the refuge said in an announcement on Facebook. “Though that was but one day, we will celebrate his legacy forever.”
According to the Eureka Springs big cat sanctuary, Goober, a rhesus macaque, had been with the facility for 28 years, after he was apparently mistreated for the first six-and-a-half years of his life, “the evidence of which lingered on his broken, arthritic hands.”
Goober apparently “despised” other primates and wasn’t fond of most people, but Turpentine Creek says he formed a troop that consisted of three special people to him: Emily McCormack, the organization’s Animal Curator and his “mother,” Pat Quinn, a former employee and TCWR board member, and refuge founder Hilda Jackson, who preceded him in death
Staff shared their favorite memories of Goober on Facebook on Wednesday, encouraging past guests to do the same.
