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Michael Jackson's Neverland Pets and Bubbles: Where are they now?
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by Amy Judd | June 30, 2009 at 04:10 pm
1720 views | 3 Recommendations | 2 comments
Since the sudden passing of Michael Jackson, there has been much speculation about what will happen to his famous Neverland Ranch that once housed an amusement park and a variety of exotic and rare animals; none so exotic as his beloved pet chimp Bubbles.
But most of his exotic pets were moved out in 2007, when Michael Jackson couldn't afford to keep them anymore.
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They will not be returning to Neverland, even if a memorial park is set up for Michael there.
But where are they now?
Bubbles the chimp is now 26, and lives in a Florida animal sanctuary at the Center for Great Apes, and seems to enjoy life quite a lot these days. His favourite companion these days is a 40-year-old chimp named Sam.
"He's a very sweet and nice chimp, he really is," Patti Ragan, sanctuary director, told People. "I've seen him go to the drinking fountain, start to take a sip of water and then, when he hears one of the younger ones coming, he'll step back and let them have a sip."
He was once seen everywhere with Michael, even dressing in the same outfits, but now he likes to hang out, listen to music, and eat sweet potatoes.
Michael apparently never visited Bubbles once he moved out. Ragan says she hasn't told Bubbles Michael passed away yet.
Bubbles had to be moved out of Neverland because be became too much of an 'animal' for Michael to handle. He once bit Quincy Jones' daughter, Rashida Jones, when she was visiting the ranch.
"I have a scar. I was standing next to his cage and he grabbed something out of my hand. I opened the cage and the monkey started throwing things at me. I tried to punish him by lightly hitting him on the head, and he grabbed my hand and bit down on it like a sandwich."
Thriller and Sabu, Michael's tigers are now at the wild animal preserve in Acton, California, which is run by Tippi Hedren.
"Thriller and Sabu always remind us of Michael," Hedren said in a statement.
Rikki, Michael's Amazon parrot, is now housed in Page, Arizona with Freddie Hancock and the Voices of the Wild Foundation. Hancock took a lot of Michael's animals when the zoo was disbanded from Neverland in 2007.
Speaking to E! News Friday, Hancock had nothing but praise for Jackson, whom she never met, as an animal guardian.
"We made several trips to Neverland, and you could tell from the facilities that there was a great deal of care and love for those animals," Hancock said.
She also took other birds, pythons and giraffes.
She said that she has also not told the animals about Michael's death.
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 11:50 on July 1st, 2009
I wonder what this last line inplies "She said that she has also not told the animals about Michael's death" - Either she is sane and hasn't bothered as there would be no point (they are animals after all) or she's as nutty as MJ and thinks they might understand and/or care.
at 12:27 on July 1st, 2009
It implies that she plans to tell them, but hasn't yet, for whatever reason she feels she needs to, I'm not sure.