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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [monkeywire] Toddler chimps rescued from minor league baseball team
  • Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 23:53:39 -0500

The Union Leader (Manchester NH)
November 8, 2002 Friday STATE EDITION

Toddler chimps taken from Greenville now in Florida

By KATE MUNRO

NASHUA -- Two toddler chimpanzees who were the focus of a custody lawsuit have been moved to a Florida sanctuary for chimpanzees where they will have their own island and a group of chimpanzee friends.

Arthur and Phoenix made headlines a month ago when Drew Weber, owner of the Lowell Spinners minor league baseball team, filed a custody lawsuit in Hillsborough County Superior Court against Glenn Eldridge, owner of the Greenville Wildlife Park.

Last week, Weber and Eldridge reached an out-of-court settlement, paving the way for Arthur and Phoenix to move the sanctuary.

"I'm very, very happy that they will be in a nice home," Weber said. "That's the bottom line."

Weber said he bought the two chimps from a laboratory in New Mexico for $67,500 last year. The idea at the time was to train the chimps to perform at Spinners games and other events. Eldridge and Weber would split the proceeds from the performances.

Sometime during the summer, Weber had a change of heart about using chimps to perform. But by then, Eldridge would not let him onto the Greenville Animal Park property to see the chimps, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleged the chimps were not being properly cared for.

A Nashua judge upheld a temporary injunction in October, allowing Weber to have custody of the two young chimpanzees while the court case continued.
At the injunction hearing, Judge William Groff stated the evidence "clearly establishes" Weber as "the rightful owner of the two chimpanzees."

After the settlement, Weber turned the chimps over to the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, which in turn transferred them to their final home at the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care in Florida.

Dr. Theodora Capaldo, the president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, said the chimps, which are social creatures, are slowly being introduced to adult chimps at the center in Florida.

"They are amazing little guys," she said. "They are absolutely taking to their new environment. They are curious and interested in the adult chimps. And one female adult has already showed an interest in them. We're hoping the transition from their dependence on humans to the adult chimps will happen soon."

For Halloween, chimp-keepers hid pumpkins in their cages. The chimps found the pumpkins and ate them in a group together.

"I sat out on the island and watched them having a pumpkin hunt, gathering them and eating them. That's the kind of life that a chimpanzee deserves," she said.






  • [monkeywire] Toddler chimps rescued from minor league baseball team, Carrie McLaren, 11/09/2002

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