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  • From: Benjamin Bayliss <ctrkgrendel AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Chimps <chimpsiknow AT yahoogroups.com>, Apes <apes AT yahoogroups.com>, Monkey <monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org>, Kelli Barritt <apephoto AT hotmail.com>, Sally Boysen <sboysen AT earthlink.net>
  • Subject: [monkeywire] Primates in the courtroom: Sanctuary at center of fight
  • Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 06:29:20 -0700 (PDT)

 
 
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA050706.01A.Chimp_Sanctuary.871d319.html

Primates in the courtroom: Sanctuary at center of fight

Web Posted: 05/07/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Cindy Tumiel
Express-News Staff Writer

If you believe everything you read, seven chimpanzees and two capuchin
monkeys hired their own lawyer and went to court in Bexar County last
week, asserting they were entitled to a court-appointed guardian who
would take care of them and oversee $200,000 that has been pledged to
their well-being.

The lawsuit raised a few eyebrows and generated some smiles when it fell
into the hopper at the Bexar County district clerk's office.

But the legal petition from Sarah, Keeli, Ivy, Sheba, Darrell, Harper,
Emma, Rain and Ulysses cuts to the heart of a raging debate that's no
laughing matter: whether Primarily Primates, a well-known, 28-year-old
animal sanctuary in Northwest Bexar County, has fallen into a state of
decay that endangers the welfare of some 1,000 animals living there.

The legal expenses are being paid by People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, or PETA, and follow the deaths of two other chimpanzees that
came to South Texas with the animal plaintiffs in March. A monkey also
has disappeared, escaping her enclosure at the sanctuary. She has not
been seen in several weeks.

All were from an Ohio State University colony, where psychologist Sally
Boysen earned international attention for her research establishing that
chimps, humans' closest genetic relatives, could learn to count, do
simple arithmetic and communicate in sign language.

The university decided to divest itself of the chimps after Boysen's
funding dried up. Last year it signed an agreement to transfer ownership
of the animals to Primarily Primates and pay the sanctuary $236,483 to
build them permanent living enclosures.

Their departure from Ohio State to Primarily Primates was controversial.
Boysen chained herself to the door of the university's primate center in
protest. The deaths of Kermit and Bobby and the escape of Jane have
escalated an already emotional dispute.

Boysen says the San Antonio sanctuary is substandard. She has been
joined by other researchers and animal rights groups, along with some
former employees of the sanctuary.

They describe an aging facility on the decline, suffering from dwindling
financial support, staff shortages and management problems that put the
basic health and safety of the animals at risk.

Safe and humane

But others, including a primatologist from the Jane Goodall Foundation
and a retired veterinarian from San Antonio's Southwest Foundation for
Biomedical Research, say they've seen the facility recently and it's and
humane for the animals that have retired there.

The dispute has raged back and forth across the Internet and now is
spilling into courtrooms in Texas and Ohio, where Boysen has gone to a
federal court to try to void the contract that Ohio State signed with
Primarily Primates.

"I shouldn't be talking to reporters," a distraught Boysen said in a
brief interview, where she referred questions to her attorneys. "They
just don't tell the truth," she said of the university. "This is all
about spin."

Wallace Swett, founder and president of the 75-acre sanctuary in Leon
Springs, says a long-standing disagreement between him and PETA is at
the heart of the matter. He said PETA and like-minded animal rights
groups disfavor sanctuaries, which still keep animals confined in
enclosures while allowing them to live out their lives.

"It's not about the animals. The animals will be fine," Swett said after
a court hearing Thursday. "They are definitely after the money."

Many famous people and famous animals have made their way to Primarily
Primates, which Swett opened in 1978 as one of the first places offering
refuge to apes, chimpanzees and other animals that had exhausted their
usefulness to roadside zoos, medical research and other human
enterprises.

Notable retirees have included chimps from the American space program,
an orangutan that starred in a Clint Eastwood movie and a chimpanzee
that once belonged to Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

For years, the animals and their stories generated a continuous stream
of positive publicity for the sanctuary and big financial donations
followed. Supporters have included Hollywood celebrities including game
show host Bob Barker and actress Loretta Swit.

Leaner days

But money has been hard to come by in recent years, Swett acknowledges.
The terror attacks in 2001 hit the economy and changed some donor
priorities, he said. Plus, donors have been drawn to two new federally
supported sanctuaries that have opened for primates retiring from
federal research studies.

Recent bad publicity about Primarily Primates also has taken a toll,
Swett said.

The most recently available Internal Revenue Service tax return, from
2004, lists $606,762 in direct public support - about half of what it
was a decade ago, Swett admits.

"After 9-11 we went down 45 percent in donations," he said. "With this
current thing (negative news reports) we are down another 15 percent. We
have lost valuable donors. We are pretty poor right now."

The court documents and statements from former employees describe a
financial strain that affects the welfare of the animals.

Veterinary care is inadequate, the suit in Bexar County charges. Cages
at the facility are not sanitized properly and are not secured with
proper locks; animals don't have shade and don't get enough enrichment
to improve their quality of life, according to the lawsuit.

John Fischer, a former animal care manager who left the facility in
2003, said vet care often was delayed because there wasn't money to pay
for it. Staffing was minimal; Fischer said he typically had a skeleton
crew of four workers who struggled to do basic feeding and cleaning and
property maintenance.

"The enrichment that primates need is non-existent," he said.

But on the other side of the issue, Virginia Landau, an Arizona
primatologist with the Goodall Institute, says she did not see sick or
suffering animals during two visits to Primarily Primates last year.

Landau said she was given unfettered access to the property and records
and walked away feeling satisfied with the quality of care.

"The animals look good," said Landau, who works with zoos around the
country to improve the quality of life for their primates. "If you go to
a zoo, you will see a lot of monkeys and chimps with hair torn out and
you don't see a lot of that at Primarily Primates. I figure something
good is going on."

Dr. Thomas Butler, a retired veterinarian who spent years caring for
primates at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, also
remains supportive of Swett. He would not grant an interview for this
article, but referred to a report he prepared for Ohio State in
December, when the university was deciding where to send the animals.

Butler, who still provides vet care at the sanctuary, described Swett as
a caring and knowledgeable person who has studied the biology and
behavior of each species he maintains. Animals at the facility "were
both physically and behaviorally healthy," Butler said.

A test case

The conflicting opinions now have landed in front of 285th District
Judge Michael Peden, who was assigned to preside over the dispute.

PETA and other supporters want the court to name a trustee for the
animals, who would oversee use of the $236,483 the university provided
for their care.

On Thursday, Peden's first move was to order the warring parties to find
a mutually agreeable outsider to inspect the sanctuary and report the
findings to the court.

That could happen as soon as next week, said Michael Gayler, one of the
attorneys representing the animals.

"Texas law has recognized that a trust can be established on behalf of
animals," he said. "The contract (between Ohio State and Primarily
Primates) is a trust. Our concern is whether that care is up to
appropriate standards."

Swett said the case is really part of a slow campaign by animal rights
groups to get courts to agree that animals - and primates in particular
- have legal rights equivalent to humans.

"I am very disappointed that they have chosen us for their test case,"
said Swett, who opposes using primates in research. "If it was done
differently and properly, I'd be out there with them. But not here. We
haven't done anything wrong."

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ctumiel AT express-news.net



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  • [monkeywire] Primates in the courtroom: Sanctuary at center of fight, Benjamin Bayliss, 05/07/2006

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