Last week was a banner week for newspaper articles about chimpanzees and their protection.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest was the subject of a great article published yesterday (front page of the print edition) in the Yakima Herald Republic. Read it here and be sure to share it with others by sharing the link or scrolling down to the bottom of the article and clicking on the “share” button.
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On Friday, a compelling guest column by our friend Debra Durham was published in the Seattle Times. Debra wrote about her take on a recently released film and the realities within the fictional story in the column Depiction of lab animals in ‘Planet of the Apes’ disturbingly accurate.
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Recently, a very important op-ed in the New York Times appeared from Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett which eloquently described his change in opinion about the use of primates in biomedical research and the reasons for his co-sponsorship of the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. Here’s a quote from that article:
“Continuing innovations in alternatives to the use of invasive research on great apes is the civilized way forward in the 21st century. Past civilizations were measured by how they treated their elderly and disabled. I believe that we will be measured, in part, by how we treat animals, particularly great apes.”
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And finally, the Washington Post tackled the story of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) meeting that convened last week as part of their investigation into the need for the continued use of chimpanzees in biomedical research. The investigation began in response to protests about moving chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to a laboratory in Texas where they faced being put back into invasive research.
If you’ve been following this story through our blog and e-newsletters, you know that Jody’s son Levi is one of the unlucky 14 chimpanzees already transferred to Texas. Foxie’s son David, Negra’s daughter Heidi and Jody’s daughter April remain at APF, and their future is in the hands of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH commissioned the IOM to examine the scientific value of using chimpanzees in research, but, as the Washington Post article pointed out, and as we all know, the ethical questions of using great apes in invasive research cannot and should not be separated from the discussion.
For the sake of Heidi, David, April, Levi, and all chimpanzees who are currently considered merely tools and test tubes by some in the biomedical research industry, we are grateful for Jane Goodall, Laura Bonar and others at the IOM meeting who insisted that ethics be included in the discussion and ultimate decision by the NIH.
wow, Heidi looks just like her mommy. I really hope that act gets passed and all the chimps get to go to sanctuaries. They have all been thru enough.
Teresa, I’ve collected a lot of photos of chimpanzee parents and their children and to see the resemblance is amazing. I don’t think people realize that if we can resemble our parents, so can chimpanzees. Go to these CSNW blogs, to see some more photos of our chimps’ children:
07-15-2009
01-14-2010
So true! Negra’s children in particular look like her.
Diana, I kept looking at this photo and Heidi is actually Jody’s daughter, look at the eyes. The CSNW 07-15-2009 photo is Angel, one of Negra’s daughters.
Thank you so much for the link to the Washington Post article! I have been trying to keep up on all this and it isn’t always easy to find the info in one place. I did already read Debra Durham’s column when I was reading about Rise of the Planet of the Apes. They did an excellent job on the details of the issues with captive chimpanzees, I thought, and the scenes inside the lab were eerily like the undercover HSUS footage from 2009 at New Iberia, where Sterling and so many others still languish.
Here’s a quote from of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt, I read earlier this week, from a panel he was on in July:
As Wyatt explained:
“We had a choice: we could use live apes or we could use performance capture technology. There was no way we could put actors in… simian suits and pull it off. We immediately set about exploring both options, and we very quickly put to bed the idea of using live apes for all sorts of reasons. I personally think it would have been a bit of an irony to be telling the story of our most exploited and closest cousins, and use live apes to tell that story. I think it would have been a cruel twist.”
It’s so nice to hear that from a movie director, I wish all of Hollywood felt that way.
I attended one panel of the hearing and the public comments. I find the “scientists” chilling. For people who are supposedly intelligent, educated and curious about the world, you’d think they might be more open to alternative ways of doing things. But this is how they make their living. At one point one of the panel members asked if all the research is necessary. I get the feeling that some of it — a lot of it?? — is not, especially when they are studying things in the lab that have already been studied and documented in the wild! But the researchers seem to love coming up with things that are intellectually stimulating for themselves, regardless of the usefulness.
One statement literally left me with my mouth hanging open. One “scientist” was describing his work and said that at the appropriate time, the chimp VOLUNTARILY presents his/her arm to be injected with anesthetic so they can do a brain scan. I guess voluntary is all relative.
My favorite presentation was by Dr. Brian Hare, a young up-and-coming researcher (he’s married to Vanessa Woods of Bonobo Handshake fame). He suggested that a lot of research could be done better and more cheaply in the wild and in zoos. Doing it in the wild would require approaching Africans as equal partners and would have the benefit of educating and training more African scientists. One panel member Wondered how they would get all the needed equipment to Africa; I think they can figure it out, don’t you? And another panel member was shocked to find out that zoos do research.
Most of the people who spoke during the public comments support ending the use of chimps in medical research, and they were excellent. I made it a point afterwards to go up and meet Laura Bonar and tell her what great work she’s doing.
I truly hope the panel makes the right recommendation but I really don’t know which way it will go.
I thought the Washington Post article was pretty limited and wrote a letter to the editor and the reporter himself saying so. Probably the reporter didn’t know anything about the issue (at least I hope he didn’t).
Candy, Negra had a child with the same unique laboratory number as Heidi (CA0091) and born on the same day. See this blog post for when Heidi’s photo was released: https://chimpsnw.org/2010/11/negras-daughter-heidi/
Negra’s children at Save the Chimps, Angel and Noah, definitely have a strong resemblance to Negra!
Ok, now I’m confused… Diana, is the above picture of Heidi, Negra’s daughter, or not? or is it Jody’s daughter as Candy said? Because the above pic really looks like Negra to me so that just has to be Negra’s daughter.
The photo is of Heidi, Negra’s daughter who is still at the Alamogordo Primate Facility.
I’m sorry I boo-booed.