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[Ritchie & Ron Laymon <laymon.1 AT osu.edu>]

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> > From: Natalie <atia2 AT optonline.net>
> > Date: February 26, 2009 1:11:57 PM EST
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> > Subject: Chimp editorial - Republican-American (Waterbury, CT)
> >
> > http://www.friendsofanimals.org/news/2009/february/monkey-business-gets.html 
> >  - comments can be posted
> >
> > REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN Editorial — Waterbury CT
> >
> > BY TRACEY O’SHAUGHNESSY
> >
> > When the panicked Hollywood screen writer Joe Gillis flees into  
> > Norma Desmond’s gaudy mansion in the 1950 classic “Sunset  
> > Boulevard,” he is greeted by a peculiar sight: Desmond, played by  
> > Gloria Swanson, mourning over the corpse of her dead chimp.
> >
> > As a preface to the Babylonian creepiness to follow, the chimp  
> > functions brilliantly: Something is decidedly deviant in the home  
> > of Desmond, director Billy Wilder suggests, epitomized by a  
> > ghoulish funeral for a dead chimp.
> >
> > When Stamford police shot Travis, a 14-year-old chimpanzee which  
> > brutally mauled Charla Nash, many wondered whether it was actually  
> > possible to own a primate as a pet, and still more wondered why  
> > anyone would.
> >
> > The questions were made all the more piquant by statements by the  
> > chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, that the male chimp “couldn’t have  
> > been more my son than if I gave birth to him.” The Associated Press  
> > reported that Herold, 70, fed the animal “the finest food, and wine  
> > in long-stemmed glasses. They took baths together and cuddled in  
> > the bed they shared. Travis brushed the lonely widow’s hair each  
> > night and pined for her when she was away.”
> >
> > While dressing a dog in a pumpkin outfit at Halloween raises nary  
> > an eyebrow, having a chimp brush its teeth with a Water Pik leads  
> > many to recoil. Nevertheless, says Harwinton’s Peter Brazaitis,  
> > former curator of the Central Park Zoo, the impulse is similar. “If  
> > you work with (chimps), you realize they’re little people in monkey  
> > suits,” says Brazaitis, who also served as superintendent of  
> > reptiles at the Bronx Zoo. “They’re intelligent. They have emotion.  
> > They parent their young. You’re dealing with something that is  
> > manifesting human behavior. It’s easy to impart affection and give  
> > affection. If you’re a lonely person, a chimp is going to be nice  
> > to have around.”
> >
> > Herold acquired the chimp legally in 1995. News reports indicate  
> > she bought it in Missouri. On Feb. 16, the animal attacked the 55- 
> > year-old Nash. Herold had asked Nash to help lure the chimp back  
> > into her house. The chimp subsequently attacked Nash, who sustained  
> > massive head and hand injuries in the 12-minute attack. Police, who  
> > shot and killed the chimp, said it appeared Nash’s face was ripped  
> > away. Four teams of surgeons operated on Nash for more than seven  
> > hours to stabilize the woman before she was transferred to the  
> > Cleveland Clinic.
> >
> > Owning an exotic pet like a chimpanzee is not as difficult as it  
> > may appear. Although current laws prevent them from being brought  
> > across state lines, a chimp could be bought in a state if the owner  
> > bred the chimp in captivity and had legal possession of the animal,  
> > said a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law  
> > Enforcement Division. “People breed them; people have them in  
> > private ownership,” the spokesman said. It is typically left to the  
> > states to enact legislation about ownership, she said.
> >
> > “There are many sources, both legitimate and casual,” said  
> > Brazaitis of exotic animals. The problem comes when animals bought  
> > in states with less stringent exotic-animal laws are transferred  
> > into states like Massachusetts, which legally prohibits primate  
> > ownership. Even in Connecticut, permission to possess wild animals  
> > is left to the discretion of the Department of Environmental  
> > Protection. Herold did not have a permit for Travis.
> >
> > “In a state like Massachusetts that’s trying to protect the public,  
> > it can be frustrating because someone can buy a non-endangered  
> > primate in Florida and bring it in to Massachusetts, which makes  
> > enforcement difficult,” said Chris Dowd, of the U.S. Fish and  
> > Wildlife Service.
> >
> > Owners often are attracted to chimps because of their human  
> > characteristics. Others see them as “cute.” Still others believe  
> > the exotic animal gives them some kind of cachet, experts say.
> >
> > “They’re convinced they’re doing something good, that they’re doing  
> > the right thing,” said Dowd. “There’s this thing that they’re  
> > special, that they have some special relationship that allows them  
> > to bond with the animal. And among some people, it’s a status  
> > symbol.”
> >
> > “When you see chimps, you’re usually seeing them in a beer  
> > commercial or a soda commercial,” said Priscilla Feral, president  
> > of Friends of Animals, an international animal advocacy group based  
> > in Darien. “They’re all under the age of 6. They look adorable.  
> > What you don’t see is what happens 10 years later. These animals  
> > become sexually mature and extremely strong.”
> >
> > Friends of Animals runs Primarily Primates, a 30-year-old sanctuary  
> > that houses, protects, and rehabilitates 450 non-native animals,  
> > particularly apes and monkeys. About 60 percent of the animals come  
> > from the pet trade; the remaining 40 percent are from biomedical  
> > research institutions. Some of the chimps arrive addicted to  
> > alcohol, Feral said, because their owners habitually serve them  
> > alcohol. Chimps can fetch as much as $30,000 to $50,000.
> >
> > Before 2003, state law required people to get permits to own  
> > quadrupeds, such as deer, but the language was changed that year to  
> > the broader term of “mammals” after someone asked about owning  
> > bats. In 2004, the General Assembly amended the statute, exempting  
> > anyone from the permitting requirement if they had owned a non- 
> > domestic mammal, such as a primate, before October 2003, as long as  
> > it weighed less than 50 pounds.
> >
> > But a permit, says Feral, is not a ban, which she and Connecticut  
> > Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are now seeking. The state  
> > needs a complete ban on the possession of a wild animals, Feral  
> > said. “The state has no idea how many apes and monkeys are kept,”  
> > she said. “It has no idea how many bobcats or other wild animals  
> > are kept as pets….There is no prohibition. There were town  
> > officials, including police, who knew about this state. No  
> > chimpanzee can be considered un-dangerous.”
> >
> > Blumenthal agreed. “We require a permit, but there are no  
> > legislative standards for how permits should be granted,” he said.  
> > “Nobody knows whether a snake or a chimp will behave violently.  
> > It’s a wild animal.”
> >
> > In 2003, New York Police removed a 450-pound Siberian tiger from  
> > the Harlem home of Antoine Yates, after the 31-year-old Yates tried  
> > to pass off his arm and leg injuries as having come from a pit bull.
> >
> > Many animals, including chimpanzees, are protected under the  
> > Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, an  
> > international agreement to ensure that international trade in  
> > specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their  
> > survival. But before its passage in 1973, hundreds of wild animals  
> > were brought in without any controls.
> >
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