Seventy-five years ago, Milwaukee County Zoo’s most famous resident arrived: Samson, as an almost 13-pound baby male gorilla.
With a $10,000 Pabst Brewing donation, George Speidel, the director of what was then the Washington Park Zoo, traveled to New York to examine six baby gorillas taken from present-day Cameroon. He picked two babies, one of which was Samson.
Wisconsin’s first gorillas became instant local celebrities. Over 30,000 Milwaukeeans welcomed them to the Washington Park Zoo on Oct. 15, 1950. Samson’s roommate, who was named a racially derogatory term, was slightly older, bigger and more dominant. Samson was shy. They called a small chimpanzee cage home. And after Shorty the Lion died in 1951, they became the undisputed stars of the zoo.
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The gorillas were among the first animals to be moved to the County Zoo’s current location on Bluemound Road in October 1959. Their new enclosure looked like a bathroom, with easy-to-clean tiles and a plexiglass window to prevent the gorillas from catching respiratory infections from humans. But the glass was too late; only one month later, Samson’s roommate prematurely died from tuberculosis, leaving Samson alone.
Dozens of people stared at Samson every minute, eight hours a day. He only had tires to play with and a weight scale for public viewing. To break up the monotony, he periodically rose from the rear of his enclosure, charged and banged the window. Crowds recoiled with fright and delight as if he were King Kong.
Some looked into Samson’s eyes, saw a sentient animal and wondered what he felt. Crowds were also surprised that he delicately peeled bananas and ate grapes one by one. He was given a birthday cake and a Christmas tree decorated with sweets every year. He enjoyed easy-listening music and slept by a dim light.
“Gorillas are very resilient,” says Megan O’Shea, the zoo’s communication director, about Samson’s nature. “And Samson found unique ways to adjust to his environment as he aged.”
In 1971, Samson was recognized as the heaviest living gorilla in captivity at 652 pounds. He ate a daily loaf of bread, which zookeeper Sam La Malfa gradually cut in half when he became his primary keeper. When Samson was introduced to a female gorilla named Terra, with the Zoo’s hopes of them mating, Samson was indifferent.
As a result of being taken from the wild, “Samson was imprinted on humans during his most socially formative years,” O’Shea says. “He seemed to prefer to interact with humans into adulthood. Endangered species are no longer collected from the wild for placement in zoos or nurseries.”
Throughout his whole life, Samson stayed a local fan favorite. A 1978 Milwaukee Journal street poll found that Samson finished ahead in name recognition of nearly every local and state elected official.
On Nov. 27, 1981, Samson collapsed and died in front of visitors. The necropsy showed he died from a heart attack; he previously suffered five that went undetected.
Samson was recreated in 2007 by taxidermist Wendy Christensen on all fours, calm with an authoritative side-eye. La Malfa said, “That’s the Samson I remember.”
Although Samson had no offspring, his legacy is part of our growing understanding of gorillas from mythical monsters to gentle giants. O’Shea lists improved knowledge of diet, necessary facilities, husbandry care, medical care, social and enrichment needs, and more as ways gorilla care has evolved over the decades.
His successors at the Milwaukee County Zoo – Azizi, Dotty, Hodari, Maji and Nadami – live together as a family group in a larger, more naturalistic habitat. They don’t, however, enjoy Samson’s level of fame. The annual Samson Stomp & Romp 5K run in January raises money to support the Zoo’s animals. Forty-four years after his death, Samson still captures imaginations.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Megan O’Shea’s first name as Morgan.
