The chimp, named Toto, won his freedom last week when a court ruled that he should be sent to Zambia's Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, where he will live in a free-range space at the refuge that shelters 80 other chimpanzees and other mistreated animals.

Until then, Toto is living at the Primate Recuperation and Rehabilitation Center of Santiago, where he is receiving treatment for a severe and painful oral infection.

Elba Munoz, who is caring for Toto, told AFP that she hoped he would be able to return home in early June. He was originally set to leave for Zambia on May 17, but his health problems forced a delay in his departure.

Toto came to Chile in 1979, when the Koning circus smuggled him into the country, she said.

The circus billed him as a gorilla, forcing him to smoke, drink alcohol and act like a boxer for its show.

During his two decades with the circus, Toto -- who is 1.5 metersfeet) tall and weighs 70 kilos (154 pounds) -- was kept in a cage no larger than one cubic meter and locked down with heavy chains around his neck and legs, Munoz said.

The tight confinement caused injuries to his body, and he developed serious reactions to being in constant contact with his own waste.

The circus also castrated him in a bid to keep him under control.

"They showed him no mercy. They wanted to keep him in constant suffering so that he wouldn't attack anyone," Munoz said.

A spectator at the circus originally brought a complaint against Koning seven years ago, after seeing the conditions Toto was kept in.

But Chilean courts were unable to intervene because the circus fled to Bolivia with their chimp.

Earlier this year, authorities discovered that the circus had returned to Chile, and they seized Toto on January 29.

SPACE.WIRE