A few days ago, I returned from the Great Ape Summit of 2013.
Held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming over the span of four days before merging with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the event was a complex mixture of great minds and intense passion, much compassion, and some optimism.
I mention optimism for a reason.
Everyone in attendance was at the Great Ape Summit for one purpose - because they had at one point recognized something unique about nonhuman primates and have dedicated their life's work to the variety of primate species that populate this earth along with us.
There were delegates from over twenty countries who took time away from their research, their writing, their sanctuaries and their missions so that something better might come of it. This meeting held under the expansive Wyoming skies was determined to have a purpose, and the more people I spoke with, the harder I found it to believe that these great minds would disappoint anyone when it comes to accomplishing a goal.
The overarching theme of that summit was that time is running short for the many, many primates whose lives have been affected by human mismanagement in one way or another, and that action must be taken now or else we risk the extinction and threatening of many primate species.
Comparative maps showing the increased demand for palm oil and the palm plantations' speedy encroachment of primary forests were depressing and yet also energizing at the same time, for every graphic image beamed up in our faces simply illustrated that this point in history is crucial when it comes to halting the severe ecological destruction of Africa and Asia. It's pretty impossible to ignore it when you hear that, for example, 90% of the Ivory Coast's population of chimpanzees disappeared within just seventeen years. Such facts are not easily forgotten.
Attendees and panel speakers from Uganda, Rwanda, Borneo, and Sumatra who see injured and orphaned apes on a daily basis shared their expertise and frustration at fighting against the seemingly indefatigable beast of illegal poaching that is fueled by poverty, corruption and a lack of education in the very areas where these primates coexist with human populations. When even the native forests that are declared "protected" are still sold for extractive use to corporations around the world, it's hard to know who to turn to for help.
The most compelling panel discussion, in my opinion (and not surprisingly, if you've read my book), was over the ethics of of primates in captivity. Zoos, bioresearch, sanctuaries, and animal rights were politely and sometimes tensely discussed by experts like Dan Mathews, Vice President of PETA, and sanctuary director Jen Feuerstein. World-renown primatologists like Ian Redmond and Jill Pruetz wandered around with the rest of us and sometimes spoke up during panel discussions to share their input.
There is no denying that the threats to nonhuman primates are varied and numerous - from the bushmeat trade, poaching and hunting individual primates for capture and sale, to the way these beings are treated as objects in United States laboratories, exotic pet sales, and movie sets.
And yet, there was hope.
I met, spoke with, and was introduced to some pretty amazing people who have accomplished much already and are clearly destined to accomplish even more with their lives...People like Damien Mader, a former Australian Royal Navy Clearance Diver and Special Operations military sniper who is using his fine-honed military prowess to fight against poaching throughout Africa - someone who is so otherworldly and powerful that I have no doubt that he will continue to save animal lives as long as there is breath in his body. Google's chief technology advocate the man in charge of development for Google Earth and Google Maps, Michael Jones, provided the sort of clear, level-headed insight on how to best attract attention to the plight of animal conservation that is often, like the most obvious solutions are, overlooked.
The more I talked to the real rock stars in the sanctuary and animal rights worlds, like the sanctuary director of Save The Chimps, the folks who run the Arcus Foundation, and lawyers from The Humane Society of The United States, the more I got to know them and see that they are just normal people; but they are normal people who happen to do amazing things with their life and as a result, they make life better for so many, many primates.
I was honored to see these people buying my book, and the more books I signed and saw being carried around the summit, the more I truly felt a part of this group of people doing what I consider to be one of the most things on this planet: being the voice for the voiceless.
One of the main events of the Great Ape Summit was a discussion with legendary primatologist Jane Goodall and also well-known primatologist Richard Wrangham. During this presentation, a video was shown of a chimpanzee that was rehabilitated into a life in the wild, after being rescued near death. It caused tears in just about every audience member.
It's very clear to me that if people like Jane Goodall (who started with humble roots) can literally save chimpanzee lives, just as other Summit attendees save lives of orangutans, gorillas, bonobos and more, then anyone could, if they only tried.
Jane Goodall was often in attendance at the summit's various panels and events. At one point, I went up to her, introduced myself, and thanked her for coming to the summit. Very politely, she looked aorund and said, "Well, I had to, now didn't I?"
I suppose I did too.
I saw this headline in a magazine on my flight out to Wyoming, and I saved it because I thought it was rather telling.
At one especially depressing point during the summit, I admitted to one of the event's creators that although it may sound foolish, I was still optimistic; In the face of some pretty horrifying and insurmountable conditions facing primates, I felt that there was still a point in pushing on towards a better place. The woman I was speaking to said that, as a matter of fact, she felt that we ALL were optimistic.
Otherwise, we wouldn't have been there at all.
The Great Ape Summit took place in one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.
I was not used to driving on roads that weren't crowded by trees and buildings...
...and I was not used to seeing bison.
The Great Ape Summit was invigorating. It was both freeing and constricting at the same time, because I felt I belonged, but now that I know more about the struggles nonhuman primates face in this world, the more I know I must work to help them overcome the ties that bind them.
I barely slept in Wyoming. I was excited and my blood was pumping. When I called to update family members each day, they said they'd never heard me so happy. I think it was the synergy that did it to me. Every day was filled with thoughts of what I love, amongst other people who understood. I was sitting next to Jane Goodall in meetings and nodding my head along to some of the greatest minds in animal rights and conservation. I couldn't ask for more.
Now that I'm home, I have no choice but to continue with this....I have momentum and don't seem to know how to stop.
I saw a baby bison running across a field of grass on my last evening in Wyoming. He was giddy and running, just for the hell of it and because it felt good.
He sped up, caught up to the group he belonged with, and kept running, propelled by his spirit and the fresh air.
