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cchimp26may26,0,2435524.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Feds, activists question treatment of ex-Metrozoo chimp at Texas zoo

 By David Fleshler
 Staff Writer

 May 26, 2004

 During the 1980s, Edith the chimpanzee entertained visitors at Miami  
Metrozoo. Today, Edith is no longer young and cute. She lives in a cage  
at a roadside zoo in Texas, where an animal rights group and a federal  
inspection found chimpanzees living in unsanitary conditions, fed dog  
food and spoiled vegetables, and given few toys or other means of  
breaking their boredom.

 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal Rights  
Foundation of Florida have taken up Edith's cause. They sent letters to  
Edith's former owner, Bern Levine, owner of Parrot Jungle in Miami, and  
to Metrozoo, which had leased Edith from Levine, asking them to help  
pay for her to go to a nonprofit refuge on the Peace River in Florida.

 "Presumably once a loved and crowd-pleasing figure at the Miami  
Metrozoo, Edith now languishes -- abandoned, depressed and nearly  
hairless -- in a filthy pseudo-sanctuary," states a letter from Lisa  
Wathne, PETA's captive exotic animal specialist, to Eric Stephens,  
director of Metrozoo. "Edith will be 40 years old this August. To date,  
her life has been managed and manipulated by the zoo community, which  
ultimately abandoned her to spend her `golden years' living in filth  
and neglect."

 The animal rights groups are asking Levine and the zoo to help send  
Edith to the Center for Great Apes, a sanctuary in Wauchula, west of  
Bradenton, which provides care for apes that had been used for  
entertainment, pets or research. The center keeps them in big outdoor  
habitats with swings, toys, climbing equipment, good food and  
companionship with their own species.

 Paul Vrooman, spokesman for Metrozoo, said the zoo wasn't responsible  
because it never owned Edith, only leased her. He said the zoo wanted  
to help but wasn't sure what to do.

 "We are watching the situation and seeing what we can do," he said.  
"But it's important to realize that we didn't own that chimp."

 Levine, her former owner, said he gave Edith to Amarillo only after  
checking it out to make sure she would be treated well. Now hearing of  
the accusations against the center, he's worried about her.

 "We felt that we were doing the right thing at the time," he said. "Do  
we feel responsible? We do feel responsible in some way."

 An undercover investigator from PETA worked at the Amarillo refuge  
until August 2003, secretly using a video camera to document animal  
abuse. PETA says the investigator found animals living in filthy cages,  
surrounded by feces, given dirty water and suffering from untreated  
infections and other health problems.

 An inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture backed up many of  
PETA's charges. The inspection found no regular veterinary care. It  
found that monkeys were being fed dog food and spoiled vegetables. It  
found that no program of toys and other "enrichment" was being offered  
to primates, in violation of federal law. It found that Edith was  
suffering from skin abrasions and hair loss and had not been seen by a  
veterinarian. The agency issued a formal warning.

 But in a March 25 e-mail to PETA, the agency said Amarillo made  
"significant and continuing improvement," including hiring a  
veterinarian, serving better food and providing "enrichment" to pass  
the time for the animals.

 Darby Holladay, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, said the  
refuge was now in "full compliance" with federal animal protection  
laws.

 Charles Azzopardi, owner of the Amarillo Wildlife Refuge, said the  
PETA investigator orchestrated its photos and videos. He said she moved  
garbage into the pictures and created maggots to photograph by taking  
pieces of meat and leaving them in the sun.

 "All they're looking for is publicity for them to make money," he  
said. "They're not for the animals. The animals here, they're happy."

 And he said he would never let Edith go because she's too old to move  
and could be hurt by other chimps if they didn't know her.

 "They're not going to get Edith," he said. "They're going to have to  
shoot me down. She's the oldest chimp. She's happy here. If you move  
Edith from here with other chimps, they're going to beat her up, and  
she's going to die. I'll never let her go."

 Sun-Sentinel broadcast reporter Raelin Storey contributed to this  
report.

 David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler AT sun-sentinel.com or  
954-356-4535.

 Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel