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NM Sending Feisty Chimp To California Zoo

By KRWG News

Albuquerque, New Mexico – ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRWG) Albuquerque zoo officials are pointing to behavioral problems for the reason they're sending one of their chimpanzees to the Los Angeles Zoo.

They say Julie, a feisty 25-year-old chimp, has created social problems within the chimp population at the BioPark. She has been in Albuquerque since February 2010, when she was transferred from Tennessee.

She was initially transferred from the Knoxville Zoo because she didn't get along with the dominant male chimp there.

Officials say Julie's dilemma isn't unique and has happened to other females as chimp relationships change at the zoos where they reside. In the wild, mature female chimps often move to another social group.

A keeper and veterinarian began driving Julie to California on Wednesday.

The chimp is secured in a container inside a climate controlled van.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. KRWG