American Society of Primatologists Conference 2015

I just returned from the annual conference of the American Society of Primatologists (ASP), which was held in beautiful Bend, Oregon.






Although I arrived a day late due to horrific travel delays, what's most important is that I did finally arrive.

I was speaking as part of a symposium entitled "The Advancement of the Modern Primate Sanctuary and the Growth of Collaborative Opportunities."



My presentation, "The History of Primate Sanctuaries in the United States" kicked off the symposium and led the way for my colleagues to also present on various related topics.



Due to the ASP's tendency to be very much dominated by the opinions and interests of primate researchers, sanctuaries have historically not had the smoothest welcome into the organization. This year, though, we were pleasantly surprised that the attendees of our symposium seemed honestly interested in what we had to say - and we had a packed house. It was standing room only!



The next day I was fortunate to get a private tour of NAPSA member sanctuary Chimps Inc, home of seven chimps, two lynx and.... a miniature horse named Oreo.

I loved him - even if he did try to nibble on my finger right after this picture was taken.



I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit Chimps Inc for the first time, and to meet some well-respected primatologists at the conference. Hopefully we have opened some minds to the option of retiring lab primates to sanctuary instead of them having to face euthanasia or the prospect of spending more years in laboratory life. Feedback to our symposium was promising, to be sure.

It's hard to believe that it was less than 2 years ago that I attended The Great Ape Summit, knowing nobody. Things have changed a lot, and I am ever so grateful.

Pant-hoots to that!