The Chimpanzees In Need rescue effort I am leading recently celebrated a major victory as we moved seven more chimps to sanctuary! In addition to Los Angeles and Florida local markets that picked up the story, it was great to have People spread the word nationwide.
Alex Tello's Furthest from the Wild podcast covers a range of issues related to captive exotic animals. I had appeared on the podcast previously (see here) and when Alex told me my last episode was his most popular, I was more than happy to return for a new interview. We discussed the harms of keeping primates in human homes as "pets" and I answered some questions from listeners.
This podcast is released in audio format as well as in video. The video segments are released periodically over a few weeks, and I will add them to this post as they become available. The audio-only podcast is available here.
For the past few months, I've worked with a National Geographic journalist who was interested in writing about the myriad issues involved in funding for former lab chimpanzees. The Chimpanzees In Need emergency rescue effort that I am leading involves chimpanzees who for the most part all had backgrounds in biomedical research - there is no funding for their care, despite the fact that the laboratory that used them (which was owned by NYU and shut down in the late 90's) had certainly profited off them. They were dumped in sanctuaries, with no funding provided for their longterm care... which is one reason why 41 of them were left stranded when the Wildlife Waystation shut down so suddenly in 2019.
Thank you to National Geographic and Rachel Fobar for taking the time to consider these chimpanzees and the systems that failed them. Along with some wonderful people also featured in the article, like Waystation board member Kate Thompson and chimp caregiver Anher Flores, I am honored to be part of their solution.
