This morning I’ve run across two stories that highlight that human apes do not learn from their mistakes, especially when it comes to wildlife.
The first comes from Erik Marcus’ excellent blog at vegan.com about the return of Montecore, the tiger who attacked Roy of Siegfried and Roy. It seems these two jackasses brought the tiger back on stage for a final bow before they closed their act forever. They’re under the opinion that five years ago Montecore sensed that Roy was having a stroke and attempted to drag him to safety, instead of attacking him because he’s a tiger.
Seems ol’ Siegfried and Roy are the only two who espouse this theory. As Marcus notes: “That theory is also disputed by everyone who is not bat-shit insane.”
In other people-are-so-damn-stupid-they-should-be-extinct news, the Today Show ran a report this morning about a woman who “owns” two chimpanzees and keeps them in her home. You gotta watch this to hear her tell the reporter that she’s confident the tragedy that ended Travis the chimpanzee’s life, and caused human ape Charla Nash to face life without a face, was “a freak.”
The only freak in this video is a woman who stupidly believes that chimpanzees would prefer a life of wearing human clothes and spending time in a house rather than being in the wild with a troop of fellow chimpanzees. At best, since they’re never going to live in the wild, these young chimps should be transported immediately to a sanctuary such as the Great Ape Trust or the Center for Great Apes or Save the Chimps or the sanctuary in the video, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Every known primatologist, including Jane Goodall, made a statement following Travis’ death that chimpanzees DO NOT belong living with human apes. It is irresponsible of the Today Show and NBC to broadcast a report that shows only one side of the story – the side of a delusional woman on the fast-track to disaster.
So, here’s your task … write to NBC and tell them, politely, what you think of this story. Use your own words, quote some experts, and make it clear that we need responsible journalism on this issue, not fluff pieces featuring people with next-to-no information about chimpanzees. Stories like this perpetuate the insane idea that our fellow great apes are nothing more than cute, cuddly pets. They are so much more.
Remember to contact your Senators and ask them to pass the Captive Primate Safety Act so we can end the interstate transport of primates for the pet trade.
s.
Filed under: animal rights, endangered species, primates Tagged: | animal rights, chimpanzees, chimpanzees in captivity, great apes, today show story on chimps, travis the chimpanzee
Hi Sheryl, great post. I listened to the 911 call and have been traumatized ever since. Poor Travis.. poor Carla….what a sad waste.
Here’s my letter to NBC:
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 09:40:34 -0500
From: Not Honey
Subject: Chimpanzee Story
To: Today@NBCUNI.com
I was surprised, and rather disturbed, this morning to see your story about the Montana woman who “owns” two young chimpanzees. You presented a one-sided tale that leaves viewers with the impression that it’s OK to keep
endangered primates in their homes because
they’re cute and cuddly and if you handle them at the right
hour of the day, all is well.
After the tragedy of Travis’s death and the attack on Charla Nash, every primatologist in the world, including Jane Goodall, Eugene Cousins, and Jeff Corwin, made it clear that chimpanzees are not pets, they do not belong in people’s homes and they are dangerous because, no matter how soft the bed – a jail is still a jail. Some day, these
beautiful wild cousins of ours will want out of that jail and
that’s when things go bad.
Chimpanzees are an endangered species. We should be
talking about
conserving their wild habitats and releasing them from the
entertainment business, private “ownership” and zoos, and
torture in
medical labs, not practically promoting them as house pets
as your piece today did. You should urge your viewers to
contact their Senators to support the Captive Primate Safety
Act and stop the interstate trade in primates. Please
consider airing another piece that includes science and
conservation, and not the lunatic fringe.
Name
Address
Address
Wow, people just won’t learn, will they? I know it must be very difficult to think of sending her “babies” away. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to part with my dog, for example, and I am sure you could love a chimp just as much….but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for the animal. If I knew in my heart that Otis was better off at a sanctuary, I’d send him there. She needs to think about them, not about what she WANTS!!