Guest on Prime Mates podcast - 4th time

This week I returned as a guest on Prime Mates podcast. There was no theme this time, because it was a Q&A session with questions submitted by listeners.

There were so many questions, actually, that we didn't get through them all! I will be returning next week for part two of this episode.

I have so much fun doing these podcasts, so I am really pleased to return for more questions. I hope they go easy on me!

Click here to listen.

Quoted in New York Times

As I type, the Coronavirus is in the middle of changing the world. It seems like the details shift daily, and every industry and way of life have been affected.

For primate sanctuaries, the threats to their financial stability and to their workforce are compounded by the possibility that the virus could jump the species barrier and infect other primate species. It is currently assumed that chimpanzees could contract the virus, though there have not yet been documented cases of it. There have been cases of rhesus macaques contracting Coronavirus, however, which does not bode well for all the hundreds of species currently in the care of primate sanctuaries.

Accordingly, the sanctuaries are ramping up their safety precautions. I was happy to talk to the New York Times about how this is functioning because it is an incredibly important topic right now, and not something that the average person might consider. Read the article here.

Quoted in Sentient Media

A new article co-authored by renowned author and animal sentience expert Dr. Barbara J. King focused on the complex harms of keeping primate as "pets." I was happy to speak with her while she was researching for the article, and am pleased that she quoted me in the finished product:

It's pretty impossible for the nation's primate sanctuaries to understand the need for primate retirement when so many privately owned primates are living under the radar. It's a real problem that doesn't have any solutions, short of a federal ban on private ownership of primates. Perhaps one day... but until then, our work continues.