Inquiry with Sedgwick County Zoo (2023)
|
The following is a Wikizilla-exclusive interview. The Boy Who Cried Godzilla's interview with Jennica King, Director of Marketing and Communication at Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, United States |
|---|
Inquiry to Sedgwick County Zoo, current caretakers of the western lowland gorilla Billy, whose photo was used to portray Kong Mark II on the cover of the 2005 novel Kong Reborn by Russell Blackford. It was responded to on April 14, 2023 by the zoo's Director of Marketing & Communication Jennica King.
Billy was born in the Bronx Zoo in New York City on October 17, 1990, to mother Huerfanita and father Kongo. He was moved to many facilities throughout the early 2000s before arriving at the Sedgwick County Zoo with his brother Tommy in June of 2004.[1] As early as March 2005, his picture was taken by a Kansas photographer known by the pseudonyms "ecliptic blue," "eblue," or "moodsville," who uploaded it to various stock photography websites. It was most likely discovered on Shutterstock by Mat Postawa at ibooks, Inc. before being used on the cover of Kong Reborn that November. As of September 2023, Billy has no offspring and lives in the Downing Gorilla Forest at the Sedgwick County Zoo.[1]
Interview
Boy: Hello.
I apologize if I'm bothering you, but I have what I consider to be a somewhat odd request. For context, over the last month or two in my spare time, I have been tracking down the stock photo of a gorilla used on the cover of a book (I will link both images to this message), and have since been trying to find which gorilla from what zoo was photographed. In short, it looks like it might be one of yours, as while the photo in question did not tag the zoo it was taken at, the artist's other photos seem to have been taken at your zoo. Unfortunately, I have been unable to contact the photographer, and have had to work this out alone. That said, the photo was taken almost 20 years ago (2005), and I don't know the likelihood of any current staff having worked with you that long, particularly with the gorillas, so I don't know who might have a good idea of which one it is/was. At first I only knew that the photos were taken in Kansas, and I originally believed that they were from the Kansas City zoo, which I believed at the time to be the only zoo in Kansas with gorillas, but that is beside the point. If anyone on your staff might be able to verify the gorilla's identity, I would love to know.
In short, I would like to find the gorilla whose likeness was used to depict King Kong on a book, and I was wondering if you could help me out. If not, that is okay.
Thank you, and have a great day,
The Boy*
Site Administrator,
wikizilla.org
JK: Hi The Boy*,
Our Zoological Manager at the Downing Gorilla Forest was able to confirm that this is Billy!
He still resides at Sedgwick County Zoo.
Thanks for reaching out!
Jennica King
Director of Marketing & Communication
The Boy: Thank you so much for responding!
Apologies for the late reply, but it's incredibly neat to discover that he is alive and well after all this time. He's a niche microcelebrity, and nobody even knew. Thank you so much for your willingness to help me on my weird little journey.
Gallery
The cover of Kong Reborn
The photograph used on the book's cover, taken in early 2005
Billy photographed by Lou Alexander in 2020
References
This is a list of references for Jennica King. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
