Video transcript

Music. Welcome to a behind the scenes VIP visit to the world's most famous zoo, the San Diego Zoo. Ah, the San Diego Zoo, the world famous wildlife Haven, bursting with vibrant life, nestled in the Balboa Park, this sprawling, 100 acre Zoo is home to 1000s of rare and endangered creatures from across the globe, pulling in millions of visitors every year, each exhibit offers an up close glimpse into the wonders of the animal kingdom, with its lush tropical landscapes and immersive habitats, the San Diego Zoo really is a full on adventure. On the 13th of February, 1971 San Diego Zoo welcomed a new addition, and orangutan was born, the son of the zoos, Maggie and Bob. It was decided he would be named Ken Allen after the two zookeepers that would go on to care for him in his early years, Ken Willingham and Ben Allen. And this apes time at San Diego Zoo would go on to be nothing shy of remarkable. So after his birth, young Ken Allen didn't have the greatest start in life. It appeared that his mother was sadly failing to properly care for him, nearly accidentally smothering him. So the team at San Diego Zoo felt it was best for Ken's safety to separate him from his mother and place him in his own cage. For as a young adolescent, Ken seemed to quickly climatize to his enclosure and loved the company of his zookeepers and other humans alike. A very sociable, intelligent young ape, and like all young, playful apes, Ken was quite the troublemaker. But it was at nightfall when Ken would really shoot into action one night as a San Diego Zoo closed its doors, and Ken's keepers were heading home after a long day's work. It seemed that Ken didn't particularly like the idea of being left confined to his small metal prison. While Ken had learned to unscrew the bolts of his cage to free himself, and once out, he just roamed around his nursery. So the next morning, as staff arrived there, they found Ken playing with his toys as his cage sat dismantled behind him, assuming there'd just been some sort of structural error with the cage framework, the zookeeper simply put it back together again, and as Knight drew in, they led Ken back into the newly assembled cage, while Ken had made a note of this. So that night, as their shift ended and the zookeepers left, once again, Ken started to unscrew the bolts of his cage and simply messed about. He loved the freedom, but this time was different. Ken had learned that the morning was when the zookeepers would start their shifts and return, and he wasn't going to be caught out again. So after yet another night of freedom, as the sunlight slowly crept in through the window of his nursery, this time around, Ken climbed back into his cage and started re securing the bolts, as if nothing had happened. This way, when the keepers entered the nursery that morning, there, they saw Ken sat well, behaving his cage, as if he'd been there the entire night while Ken's master plan would go on for a few nights, he would unscrew the cage, play in the nursery, return to the cage, and then reassemble it. Everything was going swimmingly, but there was one small thing that Ken didn't account for. Eventually, the zookeepers started to notice that when they'd returned in the morning, whilst Ken was sack intent in his cage, his toys weren't in the places that the staff had left them the night before. So with a hunch, that night, the keepers said their goodbyes to Ken, and they pretended to leave, but rather than heading home, they sat quietly outside of Ken's nursery and waited. And after a while, as they expected, they started to hear noises, so they abruptly burst through the door, and there they saw Ken, Cage dismantled, playing with his toys, so the jig was off. Ken was placed into a new, much sturdier cage, and that put a stop to his late night antics once and for all. But trust me when I say this was merely the beginning. When it came to Ken Allen, things for San Diego Zoo would get far, far worse. Oooo, there we go, seventh pint of the night, right? Mick, I'm off, mate. I'll be back at 8am tomorrow. Oh, the monetized video. Are you listen? This is very important. We have to hurry. You are, Dave, right? Yeah, listen to me. Dave, I have a job for you. Oh, no, you don't mate. I don't do jobs. I'm unemployed. Just listen to me, Dave, I've been set by my higher ups, and you've been recruited to perform ad reads from now on here, take this device now, this thing on your wrist allows you to time travel to any point in history. But your first mission is you must go throughout time and spread the word of War Thunder, the most comprehensive vehicle combat game ever made, and is now available on PC and consoles for free. Now go, Hey, you What you doing? And we're building the pyramids of Giza. Mate, well, us and those over there. Mate, that sounds proper boring. Have a spin off. This War Thunder you can take command of over 2500 tanks, planes, helicopters and ships of 10 major nations, ranging from biplanes, armored cars to fighter jets and main battle tanks of today. Well, my today days, you guys don't even know what a tank is yet. I think if I would do mate those not over there told us what they are. This War Thunder game is amazing. The incredible detailed vehicles, the realistic graphics and authentic sound effects place you right at the helm of the most powerful war machines. Yeah, lads, sack this pyramid thing off. We're grinding War Thunder from now on. The first competitor, Sergius, the destroyer of men, and the second competitor, Dave, the destroyer of his own liver. I'm going to turn you to mush, and there's nothing you can say to stop me. I mean, have you tried War Thunder, join a worldwide community of over 7 million players in an epic PvP battle, delve into the breathtaking experience that is War Thunder with an unmatched wealth of high quality content to discover there's simply no game better suited for fans of military history. Oh, fair enough. Next up, let's welcome John, Paul Ringo, George and Dave The Beatles. So chaps, what would you say is your favorite part of the music making process? Well, I mean, you know, it's definitely the creativity of it all. For me, definitely the peace and love. It's gotta be connecting with the fans. It's just the love of the whole thing, you know? I mean, to be completely honest, I was playing War Thunder the entire time, which features a comprehensive customization system with countless camouflages, historical markings and decorations for all types of vehicles, including community created ones. This is one small step for man, but one giant leap for the fact that you could play War Thunder for free on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Use the link in the description or in the pinned comment to sign up new players. All those that haven't played in six months will also receive a massive bonus pack on PC or console that includes multiple Premium vehicles, the exclusive vehicle decorator, the eagle of Valor, 100,000 Silver Lions, and seven days of a premium account, all available for a limited time only. So don't miss it. Now, if you don't mind me, I'm off to have a free pint. So back to the video. So skip forward a few years, and the zookeepers felt it was finally time for Ken to be shown off to the public, and he was placed into the heart of the zoo exhibit that had opened just three years prior. But when Ken first moved in, he wasted no time in turning his hand to mischief. When a film crew turned up to document the gorilla enclosure next door, Ken decided it'd be a good idea to hurl rocks with him, and then when he ran out of rocks, he used his own shit. And keepers would also report seeing Ken fashioning branches into DIY ladders that he would then Thumper to the ground with his own fist, climb up to the top and then climb all the way back down. Now it's important to note that Ken wasn't alone in this enclosure. Keepers decided that maybe it was best that he had some company this time around, so they placed him in an enclosure with a bunch of other orangutans. So there was a number of female orangutans, Ken and one other male named Otis. Now, if you know the first thing about the animal kingdom, two males and a bunch of females doesn't usually end too well. To put it bluntly, Ken grew to despise Otis. I'm talking cold blooded hatred, resulting in numerous feuds. So the zookeeper's idea of giving Ken some company had seemingly backfired. So they cut their losses and moved Ken into his own enclosure. So there he was alone once again. Now let's have a think. Shall we last time Ken was alone? What did he do? That's right, baby. He started planning his next escape. So on the 13th of June, 1985 a 14 year old Ken Allen managed to climb up the wall of his enclosure and got out. Now, what exactly did Ken do after his valiant escape? Well, he very confidently, just strolled around the zoo amongst visitors, minding his own business, observing the other animals. Oh, look at the elephants. Wow. Look at that giraffe. He wasn't aggressive or agitated. In fact, Ken loved the attention. Well, this escapade went on until the zookeepers were made aware of Ken's escape. Now they knew that if Ken was to attack him, they would be forced to put him down, because of his strength, because he is a wild animal, the potential is there to do harm, to hurt somebody badly, so slightly panicked. They hesitantly approached Ken, but he caused no trouble at all, and then they quickly led him back to his enclosure, which he happily complied with. Now, whilst Ken Allen was chilled, enjoying his day spent roaming the zoo, the same couldn't be said for the zoo's staff. They were having a meltdown. They knew if news of Ken Allen's escape went public, they would have a PR disaster on their hands. But of course, they have no control over the news leaking. I mean, there was an orangutan walking amongst members of the public that does turn heads. So as the news broke, the staff at the San Diego Zoo prepared for the worst, but rather than the expected PR disaster, Ken Allen became somewhat of a local hero, and it actually worked in the zoo's favor. With everyone reading the news about Ken people just had to see for themselves, and the zoo attendance skyrocketed, or despite the media buzz, behind the scenes, San Diego Zoo were doing all they could to prevent another escape. Sure, the attention was great, but one instance of an escape ape was enough for them. Zoo officials. Decided they needed to step up security of Ken's pen. So they installed a moat around the perimeter of his enclosure and installed a 250 foot wall. This was bound to stop Ken and his tracks, and thankfully, it worked. Crisis averted. The security measures successfully contained Ken Allen for all of a few weeks. That is because on the 29th of July, 1985 Ken managed to escape. Again. He somehow made his way over the moat, and just like his last escape, the 250 pound orangutan effortlessly scaled his enclosure wall and yet again, he did the same, just casually strolling around the zoo amongst visitors, even posing for selfies. But this time, there was one more thing Ken wanted to do on his day trip. So as the zookeepers were once again made aware of Ken's escape, they frantically ran out to the zoo for a second time to capture Ken, and there they found him stood over an enclosure, but this time he wasn't looking at the pretty elephants there. Ken was picking up rocks and pelting them at none other than Otis, Ken's ex roommate and sworn enemy for the second escape had only escalated. The media hype around Ken, the already packed San Diego zoo had more and more visitors each day, all eager to see Ken Allen, the ape that could not be contained. But yet again, as for the staff at San Diego Zoo, whilst thankful for the increase in ticket sales. They simply could not let this happen again. Two escapes was already far too. Many things were really getting silly now, every effort the zoo gibberson applied to try and halt Ken's escapes was failing. They needed to really step things up this time around. So for the time being, they moved Ken into an indoor pen that reportedly had a black and white television that featured just one channel. So as Ken sat and watched TV, the staff started to draft a plan to further beef up Ken's main enclosure and increase security, fortified the place properly. So as the staff gathered around and started pitching ideas, meanwhile, outside of zoo grounds. After the media had caught wind of the second escape, things had gotten bonkers. Ken Allen had become somewhat of an icon. Free Ken Allen T shirts started popping up all over the place $14 a pop, bumper stickers appearing on cars all over San Diego. A group of pensioners formed a Ken Allen fan club, aptly named, the orang gang, complete with a monthly newsletter and maybe the strangest outcome of Ken's fame, a San Diego based psychiatrist named Dennis Gersten released a single The Ballad of Ken Allen. Yeah, shit was getting weird. Headlines started referring to Ken Allen as Hairy Houdini, a name that fit him perfectly. So back at the zoo, with all eyes on them, the staff started their efforts to beef up Ken's main enclosure once and for all. So with the Master Plan finished, they started by surrounding the wall with a powerful electric fence. Then they hired a pair of professional rock climbers to try and scale the enclosure wall so staff could seek out the foot and handholds and patch over them, making a chance of a route to the top virtually impossible, making the walls smoother, straight up and down, taking all the little bumps and ridges out of the wall that he could possibly get a handhold on. Also, the keepers had noted that Ken would only really ever attempt to escape when he was in an enclosure alone, and of course, when they attempted to put him in enclosure with other orangutans, the only real issue was the fact that there was another male Otis. So zookeepers decided that the best course of action would be to introduce some female orangutans into the upgraded enclosure and no other males, in the hopes that the company might calm him down. So with the big security renovations finally complete, they decided it was time to free Ken from his indoor prison. He'd watched enough black and white TV, and they released him into the newly upgraded enclosure. But that wasn't all the staff had up their sleeve. This time they decided it was best that they monitored Ken, see what he got up, to learn his habits, see if he was acting fishing. But this is Ken Allen we're talking about. This is one smart orangutan. He knew that when he saw humans dressed in zoo uniform, he couldn't act out or pull any wise moves as he knew they were watching, but this time, the staff were one step ahead of Ken. So to get around this, they would disguise themselves in normal casual clothing, blue jeans, Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, as if they were just regular old bystanders visiting the zoo. That way they could watch Ken and he'd have no idea they were members of staff a tactic that the zoo coined gorilla tactics. Okay, one gold star for that one San Diego Zoo. I'll give it to you. So how did it all go? Well, their plan worked. Ken didn't try to escape. So there, Ken was busy not escaping, relaxing, slow. Hitting her sitting around oh he has a crowbar. It seemed that Ken had discovered the tool when it had been seemingly left behind by a construction worker, not particularly wanting to approach a crowbar wielding orangutan. The zookeepers watched over helplessly, but to their relief, Ken threw it aside, landing at the feet a fellow orangutan, Vicky, now knowing she was far calmer than Ken, the keepers weren't too worried about her until, that is, they heard a large crunch, and Vicky had used the crowbar to try and pry open the glass of the enclosure window in an attempt to free herself and Ken, that's right, Ken had seemingly upped his intelligence level and was training other orangutans to aid him in his escapes. Pretty clever, as if they learned from the master himself. There must be some kind of orangutan communication going on here. Thankfully, for zoo staff, this time around, they caught Ken and Vicky almost instantly before they made it out to the public and then re secured the window. So after making sure all the loose talk was secure and feeding the construction worker to the alligators, it seemed that Ken, for the most part, was behaving himself. They did catch him one time, managing to scale the wall despite the rock climbers best efforts, but when he eventually reached the electric fence, he lightly brushed it, got quite the sound, and quickly made his way back down the San Diego Zoo. Had outdone themselves. Finally, all the work the staff had put in had seemingly worked to keep Ken Allen at bay, Ken started to settle down, and the media started to report that he'd become somewhat of a family man, and it looked as if his escapes had finally been put to rest, but it seemed that Ken was simply buying his time, because two years later, the pump that fueled the moat around Ken's enclosure had conveniently clogged, drying up the moat completely, and this allowed for a clear and easy path to the wall. Ken then sat patiently and waited for the moment that the power to the electric fence was shut off for maintenance. How he knew this is still a mystery, but with the timing being perfect, Keith capitalized making a bolt for it. And once again, after his two year hiatus, he'd come out of retirement, and it was like he'd never stopped back to his old ways. He strolled around the zoo taking photo after photo. Everybody raving that they had seen Ken Allen, Hairy Houdini, the ape that could not be contained. But this time around, when he saw the guards approaching in the distance, Ken wasn't as calm as he was during his other escapes. He made a bolt for the lion enclosure, dodging and weaving, making the most of his freedom crowds, cheering as a sprinter, he was really pushing the boat out this time, this was the furthest away Ken had ever been from his enclosure, fearing that Ken was going to climb into the lion enclosure and be their next meal. And staff were hot on his heels, and after three long hours, he was eventually cornered by good wielding zookeepers and led back to his enclosure. Luckily, the zookeepers knew that the only reason the escape was possible was due to the moat drying up and the power shutting off, and once repaired, the fortifications that had worked for two years would still be up to scratch. But while secure, what the keepers had underestimated once more was the fact that Ken had roommates. Things had been going great, but we all know how things go when you surround Ken with female orangutans. Ken isn't exactly the best influence on the ladies, but it wasn't Ken this time, one day before the zoo opening time Jane and Kumang had found a five foot long handled squeegee that a cleaner had accidentally left in the enclosure, and inspired by ken, the two somehow used it to climb up the wall and hop out. Jane apparently wandered into an employee only lounge area, finished off some of their sodas, and was found roaming around near the flamingos, where she had to be tranquilized, and returned to her enclosure. And thankfully, Kumang willingly returned. But while she was the tamer ape this time around, it seems that Kumang wanted her own chapter in the adventure book. She managed to escape two additional times by shortening the electric fence wires with a twig. The first time she was found sat playing in the garden bed where she was tranquilized, then the second time, she was sat outside the monkey enclosure, and when approached by staff, she climbed on top of the bird sanctuary where she was tranquilized again. In fact, Command's mischief actually got the group put in solitary confinement once more, whilst the keepers made the wiring system more complex, upgraded the doors and went around with an electromagnet to make sure there was nothing they could use to aid an escape. So even though Ken was in retirement, he was still seemingly costing the zoo money through his students. At this point, the zoo had reportedly spent a whopping $45,000 on security over the course of the escapes. As for Ken himself, As years passed, it seems that the escapes at San Diego Zoo really had finally come to an end. This time, Ken was living a simple life in his enclosure, sat relaxing, eating and flipping off children that walked by. Ken settled down for years to come. He had finally decided to behave himself and stayed put in his enclosure. He had truly given up on his old ways. Well, in the winter of 2000 the zookeepers noticed that Ken was acting out of the ordinary, who was moving erratically and seemed uncomfortable. So Staff sent him in for a visit with the zoo. Doctor, Ken was diagnosed with B cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer. Now, at first, doctors weren't too worried, as Ken was still young and fit and would most likely be able to fight off the disease, but sadly, as time went on, Ken's condition deteriorated and the cancer had become more aggressive, the cancer that was now terminal. So the zookeepers decided that rather than letting Ken suffer at the age of 29 on December 1 2000 Ken Allen was euthanized, options for chemotherapy were explored, but at this time, the therapy was mainly geared towards making Kenny as comfortable as possible. His condition had worsened over the last several days, Ken brought great joy to the San Diego Zoo for over 29 years, the loss of these this type of animal is is a great loss to our organization. Just a sad day at the San Diego Zoo. At 1105 today, Ken Allen was put down. The orang gang published a two page spread as a tribute to Ken and hosted a candlelit vigil for him, stating he would have done the same for us. To this day, a plaque sits in San Diego Zoo in Ken Allen's honor. So there you go. The story of Ken Allen's numerous escapes from the San Diego Zoo, $45,000 T shirts, bumper stickers, a FANCL a single and a hell of a tale. I've made sure to link to the main sources that help to tell this story. Below, if you want to read into it some more, and shout out to count dankula, who covered this story a while back with the hilarious retelling in his absolute mad lad series, which actually led me to make this video and get Ken's story out there to more people. He also mentions in that video made four years ago now that orangutans are indeed an endangered species. Orangutans are very smart and very gentle natured creatures, but the World Wildlife Fund has classed them as critically endangered. And who would have guessed four years later, nothing has changed. The steep decline in the number of orangutans in the wild means they are indeed still an endangered species, with an estimated total of around 50,000 to 65,000 remaining in the wild. 2000 to 3000 orangutans are killed every year, and if it continues at that rate, some experts predict that within 50 years, there will be no orangutans left in the wild. So I've made sure to include a few links below to some charities, the orangutan project, where you can adopt an orangutan, the orangutan foundation that do great work at protecting the tropical habitats that many wild orangutans call home, and orangutan.com which is an all round great resource to see what you can do to help as well as the numerous charities helping to save orangutans from extinction, I've made a personal donation myself, and if you have any spare money left around, why not go and give it to some of these charities? I'd like to dedicate this video to Ken Allen, good on you, mate and to all of you that have made it this far in the video. Thank you ever so much. And of course, thanks to War Thunder for sponsoring the video and making it all possible. You can give it a try for free on PC Playstation or Xbox by using the link in the description or in the pinned comment, new and returning players that haven't played in six months will receive that big bonus pack mentioned earlier in the video, featuring premium vehicles and much more across all platforms, and it's all only available for a limited time only, so get it while You can. And with all of that said, Goodbye

.