Upcoming: Co-authoring a chapter on primate welfare with Lori Gruen

Exciting news - I was asked to co-author a book chapter with Wesleyan University professor, philosopher, ethicist and well-published author Lori Gruen. The book, titled Nonhuman Primate Welfare, is expected to be the most extensive of its kind.

Our chapter will focus on Primate welfare and animal rights. The book will be published by Springer in 2019.

Although this project is a practice in delayed gratification (2019 seems worlds away), I am happy to be working on this with my esteemed co-author.

NAPSA Workshop 2016

Well, I did it…. The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind leading up to this event. As NAPSA's Program Manager, I am responsible for organizing its semi-annual conference, the NAPSA Workshop. NAPSA's last Workshop was held in 2014, right before I was hired, and in 2015 I developed an online Virtual Workshop. Putting together an in-person Workshop was a whole new animal for me.

Although I worried about every possible thing that could have gone wrong, the vast majority of those things did not, actually, go wrong, and NAPSA Workshop 2016 was very successful! We ended up having over 80 attendees join us for two days in Tacoma, Washington, and then a smaller group was able to tour NAPSA member Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in nearby Cle Elum, Washington on the third day. The event ran from September 22nd - 24th.

One of the tour groups of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

As the host of the Workshop, I was in front of the microphone constantly for two days, and monitoring the time of every segment of every panel to ensure that our guests all got their allotted time for speaking. It was exhausting and wonderful, but most of all I was honored to be amongst such a powerful, intelligent, and dedicated group.

Full house!

NAPSA was pleased to host guest speakers with myriad of expertise and points of view. I was grateful to have the following organizations represented on our stage: 

• Center for Great Apes
• Chimp Haven
• Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
• Chimps Inc
• Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch
• Fauna Foundation
• Foray Consulting
• Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries
• Humane Society of the United States
• International Primate Protection League
• Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
• Lincoln Park Zoo
• Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
• Primate Rescue Center
• Project Chimps
• Stanford University
• University of Washington
• Wildlife Waystation. 

NAPSA's Steering Committee

I think one of the most thrilling moments of the Workshop was when it was recognized that the actions of the people in that room were ending many of the uses of primates in captivity, and literally changing history in terms of human culture and animal welfare. Reading the data on how very few chimps are used in entertainment, for example, compared to that same statistic from just 15 years ago, brought chills to me. That same energy that successfully delivered captive chimpanzees to sanctuaries throughout the country is now being applied to monkeys being exploited in the same ways - in labs, in entertainment, and in the pet trade - and although it is a large hill to climb, progress is already being made. That's what NAPSA's Workshop is all about - joining forces to celebrate what has been accomplished and focus on what remains to be done... and it will be done.

Doing what I do.

Presenting at Joint Meeting of IPS and ASP

The joint meeting of the International Primatological Society (IPS) and the American Society of Primatologists (ASP) was held in Chicago, IL from August 21-27th. It was predicted to be the largest primatological gathering in the last 20 years. 

On behalf of NAPSA, I spoke twice at this event.  

As part of "Teaching Primatology in the 21st Century: Bringing Primates to the Students When You Can't Take Students to the Primates," a workshop on primatology education,  I presented "Sanctuary and Student Synergy: Primatology through Retired Primates." My talk focused on how students and teachers (of all grade levels) can work with sanctuaries to learn about primates and the issues affecting their welfare.

I also presented during one of the Poster Sessions. My poster, "Collaboration for Sustainability: Successful Retirement of Captive Primates," was geared to towards the research-heavy ASP crowd. Increasingly, laboratories are considering sanctuary retirement of their primates, so it is important that NAPSA educate the non-sanctuary community about what is needed for primate retirements. Primate retirement is a complex process that must be financially feasible and practical for all parties involved.

My poster was featured later in the week on a round-table discussion of the ethics of primate retirement, although I was not able to attend that segment.

My time in Chicago flew by, but it was wonderful to meet up with coworkers and other experts in the field!

One of NEAVS's "just a bunch of people"

I am honored to be included in a video, "Just a Bunch of People," highlighting some of the primate experts opposed to the international transfer of chimpanzees from a Georgia research laboratory to the UK.

The video, produced by the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS), lists such primatology all-starts like Richard Wrangham, Jennifer Feuerstein, Douglas Cress, Tetsuro Matsuzawa…and me!

It is truly, truly an honor to be in such esteemed company. Thank you, NEAVS!

Quoted in National Geographic

On the heels of my May 31 interview on CNN, I was part of an article published in National Geographic on a topic completely separate from Harambe the gorilla's untimely demise.

As part of my work with the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, I submitted an affidavit that the organization would be happy to take in eight chimpanzees that were destined to be transported overseas from a research laboratory in Georgia to an unaccredited zoo in the United Kingdom. This has, understandably, made news and National Geographic published an article, "Controversial Plan Would Send Lab Chimps to Unaccredited Zoo," exploring why so many primate experts are against the transfer.

Fortunately, the completely unnecessary and avoidable transfer of the chimpanzees has been delayed until at least September, so that the court can gather more information on the case. I am happy to be a part of this and hope that we will be successful in stopping this move.

Interviewed live on CNN

There was a sudden and unexpected flurry of activity in primate-related news when a child fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. Although the child was ok in the end, zoo staff fatally shot Harambe, a male gorilla in the enclosure who went over to the dazed toddler and dragged him around. There was much speculation over if Harambe meant to harm or protect the child, and of course nobody knows the answer to this. The days-long discussions meant that primatologists and animal experts were busy fielding media inquiries - myself included.

The most exciting event during this time was that I was interviewed live on CNN.

In addition, I was interviewed for articles in The Boston Herald and The Hot Zone, and supplied information for articles in USA Today and Reuters.

It was a very unfortunate accident that occurred, but it is my hope that discussions continue about the safety of zoo enclosures - for both the humans and animals involved - and that perhaps the utility of zoos is questioned overall.

Book Review: We Love You, Charlie Freeman

A family hand-rears a young chimpanzee for a language study – what could go wrong? As with the sign language studies involving chimpanzees raised in human homes in the 1970s and 1980s, there is much to go awry.

This book follows the Freemans, a fictional family plucked from gritty Boston suburbs to live under the microscope of a research institute. They have been assigned to raise Charlie, a needy infant chimpanzee, and teach him sign language. We quickly are introduced to much more than this strange situation, however. The Freemans’ experience involves complexities of race, assimilation and family dynamics. The book is more about the family and less about their exotic new addition. Charlie the chimpanzee is really an ancillary character, whose presence brings about truths that are neither attractive nor comfortable for the family members to face. As they cope with what has been put in front of them, the Freemans’ pain and desire to seek comfort is beautifully and precisely human.

Book Review: The High Mountains of Portugal

Most books involving chimpanzees are factual, non-fiction reference books. With a few exceptions (Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves comes to mind), these reference books present the chimpanzee as a matter of study for the reader. Oftentimes this acts as a type of mirror, and we learn about ourselves - a fellow great ape - in the process.

The High Mountains of Portugal, the latest work of Life of Pi author Yann Martel, takes a similar approach and adds in a heavy dose of mysticism. Its three sections – titled Homeless, Homeward and Home – follow characters in varying states of loneliness, all of whom encounter a chimpanzee in their personal searches for grounding. Parts of the stories are highly surreal, and other parts seem shockingly realistic even when you know, or hope, they cannot be.

Chimpanzees play a dual role in our society: We adore them and we use them, we consider and treat them as an “other”, all while we continue to recognize more of ourselves within them. Yann Martel acknowledges this strange dichotomy, and as if to settle the matter, proclaims, “We are random animals… We are risen apes, not fallen angels.”

The chimpanzee is used to convey a number of messages:

• The author compares chimpanzees to the elusive Iberian rhinoceros, an animal who also makes continued appearances throughout the book. “Human advancement spelled its end,” he writes, “It was hunted and hounded to extinction and vanished, as ridiculous as an old idea – only to be mourned and missed the moment it was gone. Now it is fodder for fado, a stock character in that peculiar form of Portuguese melancholy, saudade”

• Martel compares chimpanzees to Jesus – quite literally and with rather shocking imagery

• He describes their living conditions in an early 1980’s research center, “the very image of incarceration.”

The author’s account of a human living with a chimpanzee in an apartment, as one might live with a poodle, sounds lovely and is one of the more captivating moments in the book. However, this reviewer wishes it were more realistic. We see none of the violent emotions or destructive tendencies inherent in chimpanzees – only the peace. Although this is ethically irresponsible, we must assume Martel did this intentionally. The story retains a dreamlike quality, and the chimpanzee remains an enigma even to the human living in close quarters with him. The mystery is beautiful. “There’s a reward in the mystery, an enduring amazement,” he writes.

The High Mountains of Portugal examines the emotions that chimpanzees bring out in humankind, as it is in the high mountains of Portugal that his characters face their truths.

Quoted in New York Daily News

Pop star Justin Bieber recently had a cover story in GQ magazine, where he expressed interest in getting a second pet monkey. A few years ago, he had been gifted a pet capuchin but abandoned her in Germany after she was confiscated due to insufficient import paperwork - so you can see why getting a pet monkey is ill-advised for anyone, but particularly for a touring performer with a bad history.

On behalf of NAPSA, I wrote a letter imploring him to reconsider this statement. I shared it with a contact at TMZ who I have worked with before, and the story was quickly picked up as their head story. After that, it was carried by multiple sources, including The Sun, The Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, Daily Mail, Marie Claire, and more.

The New York Daily News quoted me as the author of the letter:

I was very pleased that it got so much attention - I hope it got Justin Bieber's attention too!