NEPC Newsletter

Monkey Business: A History of Nonhuman Primate Rights is featured in the current newsletter from New England Primate Conservancy, right alongside Jane Goodall Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, and a great new kids' book about orangutans!

Click here to read the newsletter.

Spotlight on Jill Pruetz

A few years ago, I was excited to learn that there would be an online primatology course offered through Iowa State University. Yes, I had already taken an intro-level primatology course while at University of Delaware, but that's where my official primatology educated ended. You see, higher-level primatology courses are not taught at all universities, and being that I really discovered my love of primatology after graduating from college and starting my work career, I was not able to simply pick up and move to a place that had established primatology post-graduate courses (like Wisconsin or Washington.)

An distance-learning primatology course was perfect for me, so I eagerly signed up. You can read more about the course here.

I was happy to learn that it would be taught by Jill Pruetz, a world-renowned chimpanzee expert with an active research project at a site in Senegal. Some of the lessons even involved live-feeds from Jill, direct in Senegal!

photo credit: Frans Lanting / National Geographic

The class was well-done and I learned a lot, including how much fun it is to say "ischial callosities" Google it. It's fun.

Since then, I have continued to follow Jill and her research.

She was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2008, and her work has been written about in many places, like this National Geographic Magazine article. Knowing her, I would think she is most proud of the Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project, a 12-year (and counting!) research project that follows a troop of savanna woodland chimpanzees in Senegal. It was at this site in 2006 that Jill and her team documented a female chimpanzee sharpening a stick into a spear, and using it to hunt and kill another mammal (in this case, a small, tree-dwelling primate called a bush baby).

This was HUGE! Previously, it was thought that only humans used tools to hunt mammals. Similar to when Jane Goodall's research first proved tool use amongst chimpanzees - prompting a re-evealuation of what it meant to be human - Jill's research proved once again that behavior that had been considered unique to humans is indeed shared by other primates. Her site's team would continue to observe this spear-hunting behavior again and again.

Jill has not rested on her laurels - she actually seems busier than ever. She continues to teach in Iowa and maintain other projects within the primatology world, but it's clear that she tries to spend as much time as possible in Senegal,where her work is never done.

The social network of the chimpanzees in Fongoli is changing constantly, and 2012 the research site was saddened to learn of the death (due to snakebite) of chimpanzee Tia, which left her two offspring orphaned. Her five year old daughter, Aimee, disappeared later in the year and it is assumed that she met an unfortunate fate. Her two month old, Toto, was too young to be on his own and in this rare instance, the researchers had to intervene and care for him if he were to survive. So far, he is thriving and over a year old! Click here to buy a t-shirt to help support and fund care for little Toto.

photo credit : Stacy Lindshield / Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project

So there you go - a little snippet about a very cool and inspiring lady who has accomplished great things in the primatology sphere.

I finally met Jill in person at the Great Ape Summit last month.

It's always exciting to finally meet someone in person when you really admire their work. I was nervous at first, but Jill is so kind and down-to earth that I was quickly at ease.

Plus, she enjoys reading Monkey Business and really likes pumpkin coffee, so now I think she's even cooler...

Thanks to New England Primate Conservancy!

A few years ago, I spent some time volunteering with some very kind, dedicated people at the New England Primate Conservancy. At the time it was called the New England Primate Sanctuary (NEPS), and the organization had spent years and years trying to raise funds to establish the first primate sanctuary in New England. Their goal was to use some property in Rhode Island to house primates (mainly monkeys) that were retired from research at area universities and labs. 

Although politics and permitting troubles got in the way of NEPS's plans for the Rhode Island facility, they have gone forward with another of their side projects. Throughout all the years since their inception, another of their goals was to raise awareness and encourage education of primate conservation amongst the younger generations. They developed some wonderful curricula and learning resources available for instructors and teachers, and their new name of New England Primate Conservancy now seems quite fitting! Please check out the various tabs on their website for more information on how you could use their resources.

I'm happy to say that Monkey Business is now featured on the New England Primate Conservancy website! 

If you click on their home page and scroll down, you'll see a familiar site staring back at you!

Book signing at V Organic Cafe's Autumnfest

Saturday, October 5th started out a bit rainy, but eventually cleared up into a beautiful day - perfect for the Autumnfest celebration at V Organic Cafe in Upton, Massachusetts.

The cafe is run by Veronica Ramos, an old volunteering colleague of mine from my days at the fledgling New England Primate Sanctuary. Veronica, a longtime vegan and animal activist, finally was able to combine her love of animal-friendly baking and art into a beautiful Art-Deco inspired space that is home to not only a cafe, but also a retail space and art gallery.

And of course, Monkey Business will be sold in her retail space!

I loved being able to finally visit the cafe and try her goodies, and the Autumnfest celebration was adorable. I was able to re-connect with the founder of the New England Primate Sanctuary, now called the New England Primate Conservancy, and I met a mother-daughter team who make pet collars and donate all their profits to saving street dogs in Thailand. Check out their company, For The Love of Shallots, and their goods here. I think I know what my dog is getting this holiday season!

For it being a smaller event, I spoke with a surprising number of people about my book and sold more copies than I had expected. I think my favorite customer was either the twelve-year-old girl who was a voracious reader and interested in animal rights, or the older gentleman who bought a copy for his wife, and told me as he was leaving that he had been a vegan for 40 years! He and his wife then danced to the music of the band that was playing, even though nobody else was dancing. So cute.

I had a great day meeting some very interesting people.

Next on the agenda: plan another book signing!

Another 'zoo' bites the dust

The last few days, I've been following the saga of some unfortunate inhabitants of the now-defunct Las Vegas Zoo (also called the Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park). This 'zoo' (and I use those parentheses purposefully) was a roadside enterprise for visiting tourists, headed by a perhaps once-well-meaning man named Pat Dingle whose love for exotic animals grew greater than the size of his pockets.

The LasVegasZoo.com website is now shut down, like the entire organization, but basic online searches reveal less-than-stellar reviews from people who were very concerned about the animals' welfare at Dingle's facility.

This article from local website LasVegas CityLife quotes a Humane Society officer who claims that her organization was aware of animal welfare problems at the Las Vegas Zoo for at least five years.

This September 30th article from local news source Contact13 explains that the tiny operation grew completely unmanageable after all of its employees (all three of them) suddenly quit in protest of (what they believed to be) substandard animal care.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the government body responsible for inspecting and licensing facilities who keep primates (and other species) in captivity,  stepped in to help when the zoo shut its doors, but was unsuccessful in placing all the zoo's inhabitants in a timely fashion. Thus far, an otter and three baby agoutis (large, guinea-pig-like rodents) have died in the weeks since the zoo's closure.

When the USDA placed an SOS call to the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, a quickie rescue was thrown together for the primates who had lived at the zoo: Terry, a 33 year old male chimpanzee, and four Barbary macaques. Terry is destined for Save The Chimps in Florida (the world's largest chimpanzee sanctuary) and the macaques are headed to Primate Rescue Center, an equally stellar organization that is home to both apes and monkeys in Kentucky.

So, the nonhuman primates at Las Vegas Zoo have been saved. Good.

Why am I writing about this now? For a few reasons...

I have been lucky to know some of the heros (or heroines, as the case may be) of this story, two ladies who gave up their plans for this week to ensure these primates would get to their forever homes: April Truitt runs the Primate Rescue Center and was kind enough years ago to invite me to intern there when I first became interested in pursuing a career in the nonhuman primate world. Her advice in the years since then has been invaluable. Jen Feuerstein is Sanctuary Director of Save The Chimps, and is someone I was lucky to spend a lot of time with at last month's Great Ape Summit. I respect that these two women have not only dedicated their careers, and their lives, to nonhuman primates but also were able to throw together these cross-country rescues when primates needed them the most.

I also write about this because I think it's important to expose the often-shady side of the zoo industry. I'm not going to debate the merits of the entire zoo industry, because I don't think this is the proper forum, and there are some people working for zoos who truly do care about the animals in their facilities. There is information in my book, Monkey Business, about the ethics of zoos, and there are other animal rights books out there that discuss this topic at more length. However, there are zoos and there are 'zoos'... 

These 'zoos' I speak of, often referred to as 'backyard zoos' are most usually not in the best interest of the animals. While some saving graces of accredited mainstream zoos involve education and conservation efforts,  backyard zoos exist to turn a profit. Their substandard care quite often involves things like normally socially, active animals being housed independently, small, dirty cages and enclosures, unnatural diets, malnutrition, a lack of exercise and little to no mental stimulation for beings that may spend their entire lifetimes in this prison-like atmosphere. 

Watchdog organizations in the United States are overburdened as it is, and although the USDA stepped in to help place the suddenly homeless animals from the Las Vegas Zoo, this was too little, too late. Thankfully, organizations like Save The Chimps and Primate Rescue Center are so dedicated and quickly made room for some new inhabitants.

Nevada is one of only six US states without a law prohibiting the ownership of exotic animals. If such a law were in place when Pat Dingle started his 'zoo', none of this would have happened in the first place. Primate sanctuaries that are already full of inhabitants and strapped for cash wouldn't need to be scrambling this week-long rescue and figure out how to provide lifetime care for yet another chimpanzee and four more macaques.

I'm glad the employees of the Las Vegas Zoo were willing to sacrifice their jobs for the safety and future well-being of animals like Terry. They have made a difference for Terry the chimpanzee and the four barbary macaques headed to sanctuary. 

The four barbary macaques can now make their own social group at their new home in Kentucky. They will live in peace and get the medical attention and species-appropriate emotional stimulation that, most likely, was denied from them thus far.

Terry may live to be fifty years old, as chimps often do. He may have twenty more years ahead of him! Instead of the confines of a cage, where his every move was tracked by gawking tourists, he can spend those years, instead, in the Florida sun, joining a social group like he would have in the wild. He can sit on a hill of tall grass that is gently blowing in the wind, and, hopefully, forget why he was rescued in the first place.

Upcoming book signing

This Saturday, October 5th, I'll be signing books as part of the Autumnfest celebrations at V Organic Cafe & Art Gallery in Upton, Massachusetts.

You can view the flyer for the event here, and the Facebook event here.

Although I'm certainly excited to be signing books and reaching some new readers, I'm probably equally excited to sample some of the cafe's all-vegan delicacies!

Organic vanilla coconut cupcakes by V Organic Cafe

Other than the amazingness to be exhibited at my table, there will be additional fun stuff going on to celebrate fall, including a silent art auction, yoga, face painting, and a jazz quartet....as well as something being whipped up called a Pumpkin Pie smoothie, which sounds too good to be true.

Look: I even made you a map so you don't get lost! Don't forget your GPS too ;)

View Larger Map

I look forward to seeing you there!