An eight-year-old chimpanzee named Chance has been in the news lately. Chance is owned by the Rosaire family and has been used in entertainment for his entire life. He has appeared in commercials, television shows and movies, including The Wolf of Wall Street.
The reason Chance and the Rosaires have been in the news recently is due to this footage that PETA obtained of Chance performing with a leash around his neck.
Thirty years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for chimpanzees to appear in circuses and roadside zoo performances. In fact, Jamie, Burrito, and possibly Jody were all used as performers before their years as biomedical research subjects. They lived with trainers and were made to perform in order to entertain people.
Thankfully, we have learned a lot about the nature of chimpanzees over the years and, as a society, we’ve begun to question the appropriateness of using intelligent, social animals in this way. More and more people agree that whales belong in the ocean, not in small aquariums, that elephants shouldn’t be used as props for people to sit on, and that chimpanzees should not be raised by humans and taught to perform tricks just to amuse us.
The Rosaire family has been in the circus business for multiple generations, so it’s understandable that they are stubbornly holding on to their way of life and their views of exotic animals that many, if not most, people have reconsidered.
They argue that they are providing sanctuary for the animals in their care, and they even have legal nonprofit status and the word “sanctuary” in their name Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary.
Certainly, anyone who is familiar with true sanctuaries would immediately realize that putting a chimpanzee on a leash and having people pay to view him perform an act is a circus, not a charitable sanctuary, and that those entities have very different missions. But for those not as familiar, I’m not surprised that the Rosaires have their defenders.
It may be true that the Rosaires feel love for the animals in their care, but that doesn’t mean the animals are being afforded the life that they should or could have in an accredited sanctuary.
For information on how to distinguish between roadside zoos and sanctuaries, read this from CSNWÂ and this from the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance and share with others.
When you see chimpanzees on television, in movies, or pictured on greeting cards, stop to consider what kind of a life that chimpanzee has. Exotic animal circuses survive only because people continue to pay to see animal performances. There are fewer and fewer chimpanzees being used in entertainment because fewer and fewer people think that they should be used in this way.
We hope the chimpanzees who remain in the entertainment business in the U.S. will be able to experience a different way of life someday, like Jamie, Burrito, and Jody, where the focus is on providing them with hundreds of choices that allow them to be who they are as chimpanzees and where their best interests are the top priority.
Lucinda Almy-Hamilton says
Here! Here! Thanks for this. So important! My understanding is that more and more films are using CGI instead of live chimpanzees as well as gorillas. The Planet of the Apes movies use CGI and it is amazing how accurately the apes are portrayed. I haven’t heard anything contrary to this account so I’m hoping to see more technology being used. If anyone knows different, pleases let me know.
Diana says
Lucinda,
You are right! There’s so much that can be done with CGI now, as the Planet of the Apes movies proved!
karen and Don says
Diana, This thoughtful and honest presentation of chimps and other animals used in the entertainment business points out how much work has to be done to educate people on this topic. I tried to do that for kids in my book in the hopes that if you can point out injustices while they are young, they will be compasionate and dedicated defenders of animals in unnatural situations as adults. Thank you for this important blog. It is blogs like this one that serves the chimps and other wild animals well.
Diana says
Thank you, Karen, and thank you for taking all the time to create your book and educating so many young people with its message.
Jordan Bower says
Beautifully stated Diana.
My daughter recently received a birthday card with a chimpanzee on it. She was sitting in a circle of friends opening her gifts and looked at her friend and directly stated that the chimp on the card was being terrorized and THAT is why he was “smiling”. Her friend was a little confused; ‘but’ I was happy that from following CSNW’s blog and other true sanctuary websites she was educated on this topic and stood up for her primate kin. Anyway, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you do – all of you at The Sanctuary. Thank You.
*After the party we talked a little bit about social etiquette 😉
Diana says
What a great story, Jordan. The talk about social etiquette was a sweet addition :). How wonderful that your daughter understood the problem with the image on the card right away, though!
Francoise Vulpe says
Yes, Jordan, what a wonderful and important story about your daughter. (Most) children are remarkably receptive and instinctive about the injustices in animal exploitation, It is obvious to them that it is wrong. When they ask me questions it’s “WHY would they do that?” — they are incredulous and just cannot understand or accept that adults, the people that are supposed to have the answers, do such awful and senseless things. We must learn to take guidance from the children, but first we must teach and expose them to the issue (and how to share their knowledge without upsetting their friends :). Good on you for doing just that, and good on your daughter!!
tobin says
Diana,
Although it is obvious to those of us who follow this blog and who contribute to the CSNW and other refuges for great apes, it is useful to once again articulate that chimpanzees should not be used in “entertainment”. I can only speculate how this mistreatment of Burrito (as well as Jamie and Jody) may have served as a cause for his heart disease. My hope is that, as the poster reads, captive chimpanzees (such as Chance…shame on Martin Scorsese: he should know better!) can finally find safety and refuge in locations like the CSNW and Chimp Haven.
Kathleen says
BRAVO Dianna. A topic near to my heart. Poor dear Chance. And while I adore my chimps, so many other animals suffer in traveling circuses, silly party rides, roadside attractions and roadside zoos. No living creature should have to live out their lives in small, dirty, unnatural confines. And no creature should be forced painfully to preform for our entertainment. It is no laughing matter. Thank you CSNW for Eyes On Apes. Eyes on Apes keeps me up to date on animal welfare issues, issues that remind me that it is time to put “Welfare” back into “Animal Welfare”. I hope soon we can save all of these animals from the life they lead. The times, they are a changin’…..
lisa says
beautiful pictures today. beautiful post today. I swear that I can see their beautiful souls when I look into the eyes of their pictures sometimes. for those of you who have the privilege to watch these beautiful souls and be in their gracious presence . . . I thank you for sharing their lives with us. again and again and again.
Francoise Vulpe says
I was in the pharmacy recently and saw a handful, actually a lot — about 6 — greeting cards with chimpanzees. I took photos of the cards and the company names on the back. I will be writing them and I am considering how best to do a petition or otherwise put pressure on them. Do you have any suggestions? Websites or previous campaigns that you can refer me to?
Thank you so very much for your continued love and RESPECT for these wonderful people. They deserve everything that is good that we can give them, including and perhaps most importantly autonomy.
Pauline says
Chance shouldn’t be owned by anybody..He’s not a toy. Somebody tell that circus family. Circuses are an entertainment of the past.