Sarah, CSNW’s Executive Director, was the expert voice on a segment on the Today Show this morning about chimpanzee pet ownership. The segment spent a great deal of time with a pet owner in Montana who has two male chimpanzees around six years old. These chimpanzees were bought from the same breeder who sold Travis, the chimpanzee who attacked Charla Nash in Connecticut last month and was killed because of the attack. The young chimpanzees in Montana, Connor and Kramer, recently escaped their enclosure and bit a woman.
Their owner has admitted in a public hearing that the chimps have bitten up to 40 people. She allowed the Today Show crew to be in the living room with the chimpanzees while filming. Clearly, this is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Just like Travis’ owner, Connor and Kramer’s “mother” may indeed love “her” chimpanzees, but she is not considering the best interest of them or of her community. Connor and Kramer need to be placed in a sanctuary before it is too late.
After watching the clip, please contact the Today Show and thank them for including expert opinion and encourage them to delve into that opinion deeper for future shows. There are many chimpanzee experts out there who will explain, as Sarah did, that chimpanzees do not belong in human homes and do not belong in entertainment. Jane Goodall recently wrote an excellent article on the subject for the L.A. Times.
Hmm … your link doesn’t work for me? But I went to their web site and watched the clip. Go, Sarah!
People can be plain old oblivious to the realities of life. Yup – baby chimps are cute. But in a few more years, after some impulsive action that isn’t really intended to offend or hurt but nevertheless does, their days of sharing her couch and her bed are going to go by the wayside.
And I think that woman in Montana is sooooo selfish! She may think she’s given those chimps a great life, but what is that life like for the chimps, compared to living in the wild in a social group of their own kind? If she needed more ‘sons’ to make her happy, think what she could have offered to foster kids or kids who needed adoption with all the money and love she’s lavished on the chimps!
I’m sending the Today staff the link to JB’s great posting.
Great job Sarah! Thank you, Diana for the post….and Anna, what a great idea to send them a link to J.B.’s post! I just wrote to them to:
Thank you so much for doing a segment on chimpanzee’s as pets and for including comments from an expert, Sarah Beckler from the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Please expand further in a follow up show/s. There are many chimpanzee experts out there who will explain, as Sarah began to, why chimpanzees do not belong in human homes and do not belong in entertainment. Jane Goodall recently wrote an excellent article on the subject for the L.A. Times, that information could be included as well. As it’s been recently demonstrated, again, this really is a life or death situation both for chimpanzee’s and humans. If chimp “owners” loved chimpanzees in an unselfish way, those chimp’s would be in Sanctuary. More to the point, people who love chimps unselfishly, don’t buy them from breeders – they support organizations that protect their habitat in the wild. It wasn’t even touched on that chimps are endangered species – nor what really happens when they’re “trained” for entertainment. Please, Today producers, tell the whole story, it’s important to understand the full context. Many thanks for your consideration, Shelly Knapp, Freeland, Washington.
You did a great job Sarah! I just wish your segment had been longer.
Here’s an article from the Billings Gazette when the chimps escaped in 2008. It’s only a matter of time before this ends in another tragedy unless Ms. Rizzotto decides to do the right thing for the chimpanzees.
http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/11/13/news/state/16-monkey.txt#comments
I found it interesting the woman who has the two chimps said that we should “blame” the breeders who offer up these animals for pets. If it weren’t for people like her who are buying the animals there would be no profit in breading them and hence the practice would stop. I thought she “bit the hand that fed her” in blaming the breeders. She also stated it was an “isolated inciden”t with Travis…….. but she admits that her chimps have bitten 40 people in a public hearing, that doesn’t sound like a “isolated incident” to me, I agree with Sarah just a tragedy in the making. I have no doubt that she loves her “pets” as all of love our pets but I do think her love is a little twisted and not in the best interest of the animals and humans involve. Bottom line is chimps should not be pets.
I also thought The Today Show did a good job but I would have like to see more about our Sanctuary and their practices concerning safety protocols. The Today Show interviewer was clearly uncomfortable with the situation (as he should have been) he was thrust into, knowing the damage a chimp can inflict.
My heart skipped a beat when they showed a clip of the two young chimps in Montana swaying back and forth just like the baby chimp shown in that very small cage with no enrichment in a research lab.
I pray that Crammer and Conner will stay safe and their owner will “love” them enough to do the right thing and surrender them to a good Sanctuary.
this vid clip gave me the most sickening sinking feeling..
wish that Jeff could’ve asked her: “So, are you completely fine and okay with ripping these babies away from the clutches of their mother, obviously for your own selfish reasons? .. How do you feel about that?”
the frustration & confusion (among many other things) these guys must be enduring .. allowed in the house to act like humans, then locked up behind bars to maybe act like a chimp if they want to, allowed in the house, then locked up, back and forth, back and forth, etc..
no lady, not “cool” at all.
It really saddened me that these chimps were put in a situation of living like humans but as they mature their natures will eventually cause them disharmony in that human world, and this will end sadly. They may have a good life, a warm home, food and human love, but even human kids grow up and create enough friction so they themselves can leave home and become adults. What happens when the chimps go through their maturation to adulthood? The saddest part was when the woman said only death will split them up, and I felt surely it would end up being the death of one of the chimps.
Why is it that humans feel the need to make others conform? From religion to politics to living with others, it seems humans feel the urge to want to mold another being into his or her way of life. Live and let live means you do your thing, and let others to theirs – and don’t interfere. The chimpanzees should be allowed to be themselves in their own environment, not ours.
Well said Denice! Obviously Ms. Rizotto has her head in the clouds. These 2 chimps are going to grown bigger and stronger and if she thinks they won’t hurt her just because she raised them she is sadly mistaken. As we know you can NEVER domesticate a wild animal. If she truly loved these animals she would want what is best for them and that means a sanctuary with security measures. Separating her from her chimps only by death will likely be the death of the chimps being destroyed for acting like a chimp. So SAD! The selfish love of some people never ceases to amaze me. Great job Sarah but I would have liked to see a longer segment for your part. Education is so important!
I think the lady that owns the two chimps made a prophetic statement when she talked about they would be separated only when one of them dies (or something to that effect). I can only imagine what is going to happen when these two male chimps starting vying for alpha status someone is going to get hurt. We’ll be reading about this woman and her chimps in the future when the owner, her son, one or both of the chimps is seriously injured or killed.
I emailed the Today show earlier – hopefully they will listen to my opinion!
I too am disappointed that Today gave such a brief snippet of what Sarah had to say. The information primatologists can give is SO important.
I just saw a teaser for Inside Edition later today for a story about a mom who loved her chimp children more than her human ones. Lets see where this one goes. I suppose the only positive spin is that the story is staying in the news and people’s awareness is raised about the issue. How to get the most viable solution front and center is the question when sanctuaries aren’t nearly as “sensational” as “chimp children”. We have to “keep those cards and letters coming.”
I am reading all the stories and watching the news about chimpanzees being pets.
If someone really wants to be around chimpanzees, they need to study primatology, and do something that will help them their cause.
Instead of buying chimpanzees, people should invest their money in sanctuaries, and help them have somewhat of a “normal” life.
I think Debbie has the right idea, the media needs to know how we feel……
Am I right to assume baby chimps do not suck there thumbs in the wild?
Diana, Thank you for the links to write the Today show. I just finished a lengthy note hitting the high points you mentioned.
I also received a note from Save The Chimps saying that there has been quite a few donations from new donors, all of whom are from Washington state. She wanted to know if we were connected. I explained about Foxie and Annie having children with them and we were helping in their honor. I’ll keep you posted if I hear more.