Press coverage of Martine Colette's death

 The Chimpanzees In Need rescue effort I am leading is focused on safely rehoming and caring for the 41 chimpanzees left at the suddenly closed Wildlife Waystation animal refuge. Part of the reason that the Waystation was unable to continue caring for its animals was that its founder, Martine Colette, had retired in 2019 and the unaccredited organization was not strong enough to survive without her. Now, even she is gone. 

Martine passed away recently after a long illness. She was a friend of mine, and I respected her passion and zeal. She made me laugh.

Though she was never a member of NAPSA, I still felt it was important to speak out in her memory.

I spoke with a journalist from the LA Daily News, and the story was then picked up in a number of other outlets. Read the full story here.

Quoted in People Magazine

 The Chimpanzees In Need emergency rescue effort I am leading celebrated another major victory recently, as we safely relocated eight of the chimps to their new sanctuary home in Florida. The day was wonderful for so many reasons, and it's been thrilling to see the media coverage of this collaborative project.

One of the most notable was People Magazine, whose article included this comment from me:

I'm so grateful to have eight more chimps rescued! In total, twenty three have now been brought to safety thanks to Chimpanzees In Need, and eighteen await. We hope to rescue them all in 2022!

Click here to read the full article - the story was also shared in LA Daily News, Vegan Magazine, and various local Florida publications.

Rest in peace, Shirley McGreal

Shirley McGreal, founder of International Primate Protection League, passed away after a long life spent protecting wildlife and encouraging others to do the same.

I am so saddened to hear of her passing. She was an indomitable inspiration to many and a huge force against primate exploitation in many countries - someone who really helped shape a better future for captive and wild animals. Read more about her here.

I last saw her in 2019, when I visited IPPL for a few days and interviewed her for The Founders, a book on sanctuary founders I was writing. The book is not yet published, but her chapter has been written for a while now. It concludes:

"The sanctuary is where she’s made her peace in a world that churns with so much torment. She is 'completing her life,' she admits, and when her time on earth is over, she wants to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in the gibbon graveyard in the middle of the sanctuary. There she will finally rest, overseen by the garden statues sent from all over the world, amongst the exotic apes she helped bring home as their overlapping whoops layer through the air in a blessing."