Unveiling of Max’s statue at the Johannesburg zoo

Max, one of Joburg's best-loved citizens, will always be remembered through the statue unveiled at Johannesburg Zoo.
Children from Bathabile Primary school and all Max’s fans witnessed the immortalisation of Max in a statue at the zoo on Friday, 23 May. The magnificent statue was unveiled by Professor Philip Tobias (Wits University) at 11:40 at the Centenary lawn in the Johannesburg zoo.

Max, the famous crime-fighting mountain gorilla, was born on March 6, 197, in Germany's famous Frankfurt Zoo and died May 5, 2004, at the Johannesburg Zoo. According to a post-mortem, Max died in his sleep of "congestive heart failure and renal failure", which are signs of old age. He was 33 years old, the standard life span for gorillas in captivity. In the wild, they live to the age of 40.

He became a South African national hero in1997 when he attacked a criminal who had tried to escape the police by jumping into the gorilla cage. Max was shot twice while also inflicting considerable damage to his opponent, whom he apparently saw as a threat. Both the man and the gorilla were immediately brought to a hospital. The man was later convicted for rape, robbery and wounding a gorilla. He got a 40 year sentence. Max was cared for by curator, Phillip Cronje, and the team from Alpha section.