[monkeywire] This week on This American Life: retirement homes for chimps

Kiki Yablon kyablon at chicagoreader.com
Wed Mar 4 13:31:41 EST 2009


to air March 6
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=350

Human Resources
The true story of little-known rooms in the New York City Board of 
Education building. Teachers are told to report there instead of 
their classrooms. No reason is usually given. When they arrive, they 
find they've been put on some kind of probationary status, and they 
must report every day until the matter is cleared up. They call it 
the Rubber Room. Average length of stay? Months, sometimes years. 
Plus other stories of the uneasy interaction between humans and their 
institutions. . . .

Act Three. Almost Human Resources.

Reporter Charles Siebert talks with Ira about retirement homes for 
Chimpanzees. Yes, retirement homes for Chimpanzees. There are 
thousands of aging chimps in the US: retired chimp actors, 
ex-research subjects, abandoned pets. They can't be put back in the 
wild since they don't know how to survive there. Charles Siebert 
visited many of the facilities where they're housed, often in rooms, 
with TV's and 3 meals a day. He's writing a book about his 
experiences called Humanzee. (11 minutes)

Song: "Monkey in a Zoo," Daniel Johnston


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