Published on One Green Planet

On August 14th, I had a new article published on One Green Planet.

Titled "Urgent Action Needed to Help Primates Suffering in Labs Across the U.S.", it was written as a project of NAPSA and is about a Rulemaking Petition to the USDA on behalf of the psychological well-being of primates in research. NAPSA is a co-petitioner of the effort, along with New England Anti-Vivisection Society, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Laboratory Primates Advocacy Group.

In less than 48 hours, it has been shared over 1100 times! Thrilled.

Articles published in OR and FL

Part of my duties with the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) is to speak up on primate-related topics that are especially newsworthy or a particular focus of the group. In July, the organization kicked off an advocacy program about the private ownership of primates. I wrote a number of articles that were then pitched to local and national news outlets. So far, two have been printed.



On July 26th, the Bend Bulletin (in Oregon) printed "Chimpanzees Should Not Be Pets."






On August 2nd, the Gainesville Sun (in Florida) printed "Erika Fleury: Jungle Friends' Jersey Shows Negative Consequences of Primate Ownership."

I expect more articles will be published this month. I look forward to sharing the news of this!

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!