Chimpanzee Information: Poker Playing Chimpanzee, Mikey, Owner Judie Harrison

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Poker Playing Chimpanzee, Mikey, Owner Judie Harrison

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Ever wondered who is behind the controls during ABC7 News This Morning? On Thursday, Mikey and his brother, Louie, took over.

Mikey the Poker Playing Chimp is on his way back to Vegas to play a few heads up Texas Hold 'em games to save up for his retirement. After his rejection from the World Series of Poker last month, Mikey has been working hard on his gameface and still looking for big tournament acceptance.

FAST FACTS:

* Mikey is 4 1/2 years old

* Trainer/Owner/Mother Judie Harrison has raised him since he was 9 months old

* Animal Performer/entertainment industry--- appeared on all of the Network morning shows including GMA, Inside Edition, CBS, Fox News.

* On the current cover album to the Black Eyed Peas (emailed you copy for fulscreen)

* Judie taught him how to play poker so he can use the money from his winnings to eventually retire and live with her rather than in a zoo or reserve that would be more financially equipt to care for him.

* Knows how to play Texas Hold 'em games and can demo for the anchor

PRESS RELEASE

August 3, 2006 (Las Vegas, NV) - PokerShare.com and Mikey the chimp have not given up on their mission to earn Mikey his retirement money from poker tournament winnings. Despite Jeffrey Pollock, Vice President of Harrah's Entertainment's statement to the press Thursday, July 27, 2006 saying Mikey would not be allowed into the World Series of Poker, PokerShare.com will search hard to find another poker tournament that will let Mikey play.

"Mikey will overcome this rejection into the WSOP 2006 and keep practicing until another poker tournament picks him up. We will sponsor him in whatever tournament will accept him because we know a chimp can beat a chump," says Max Wright, PokerShare.com Poker Room Manager. Trainer Sheds Tears

With appearances on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, CBS, FOX News, and others, Mikey, the brainiest baboon around has made an impact on the hearts of America, and had thousands rooting for him to earn the retirement money it would take to keep him living with his trainer, owner, and mother, Judie Harrison. When Harrison heard the sad news Thursday evening, before the first day of the World Series of Poker main event, she broke into tears.

"Mikey has been training for months and really had a shot at winning money to live with me for the rest of his life. I can't believe they won't let him in. I take him everywhere and he is just like a human, and I am his mother. I am his everything," said Harrison.

Professionally trained to recognize colors, shapes, perform on television, and wear a green poker visor and sunglasses; Mikey was prepared to play with the best poker players in the world.

CHUMPS CAN'T HANDLE CHIMP AT WSOP TOURNEY

"Mikey will overcome this rejection into the WSOP 2006 and keep practicing until another poker tournament picks him up. We will sponsor him in whatever tournament will accept him because we know a chimp can beat a chump." -- Max Wright, PokerShare.com Poker Room Manager

LAS VEGAS, NV - (September 11, 2006) - PokerShare.com and Mikey the chimp have not given up on their mission to earn Mikey his retirement money from poker tournament winnings. Despite Jeffrey Pollock, Vice President of Harrah's Entertainment's statement to the press Thursday, July 27, 2006 saying Mikey would not be allowed into the World Series of Poker, PokerShare.com will search hard to find another poker tournament that will let Mikey play.

Trainer Sheds Tears

Professionally trained to recognize colors, shapes, perform on television, and wear a green poker visor and sunglasses; Mikey was prepared to play with the best poker players in the world. Pro Reactions to Chimp Rejection.

Not only the trainer and sentimental citizens felt the wrath of the disappointing decision. Professional poker players were also upset, saying they were looking forward to playing against Mikey. Pro player Marcel Luske enjoyed playing against Mikey in the MonkeyShare.net press conference at the Palms on July 27, 2006. "Mikey played quite a few good hands. After looking at his cards, he knew he didn't want to bet because he had a bad hand. Playing against Mikey was certainly interesting , he was well behaved and the game was a lot more civil than other games I have played in my poker career" said Luske.

Marcel Luske was the star performer at the Bluff Rocks Party on Sunday night at the Hard Rock Café. His dazzling debut performance showed he has more in his repertoire than simply poker. No More Monkeying Around

Mikey and his PokerShare.com sponsors are making a statement and not monkeying around, as he tries to find another tournament that will allow him to play. With the positive responses Mikey has received from poker players and poker fans alike, odds are that tournament executives will be going all-in for this poker-playing chimp. New Poker Face

Mikey the chimp's high profile and army of poker-playing fans, have led PokerShare.com to use Mikey's image and identity as the new face of PokerShare.com.

"Mikey has stolen the show at the 2006 WSOP and he is the perfect marketing vehicle with which we want to brand ourselves. He embodies the brand of PokerShare.com because he is playful, fun, and different. All very positive attributes which contribute to the most generous site on the Web- PokerShare.com," said PokerShare.com and CasinoShare.com Poker Room Manager, Wright.

Source

No comments:

Post a Comment

January's Article

From the Fall of 2008 Through 2009 – The Chimpanzee Year in Review

This past year has been one of sadness, sorrow, change, and hope. I would like to take this opportunity, as we begin 2010, to reflect back and highlight the changes that we now, hopefully, are really beginning to see as the world’s attitude towards privately owned chimpanzees, and primates in general, change in a positive way.

The highlights begin, actually, late in the fall of 2008 when our chimps, Mikey and Louie, the two busiest and most popular working chimpanzees in America, retired to Little Rock Zoo. I wanted them to have a future as part of a family of chimps, and to have a safe and permanent home that they could live their life as chimpanzees, not a member of the human society.

In November of 2009, Connor and Kramer the chimpanzees owned by private pet owner Jeanne Rizzotto escape from her home near Red Lodge, Montana. They spent over an hour running loose, crossing highways and entering neighbor’s property. Connor, a habitual biter as described in court papers filed after the incident, bites a woman on the arm as she tries to keep him out of her home, losing 6-8 inches of skin from her arm. Rizzotto is told to keep the chimps in quarantine at her home while health officials investigate the incident. Rizzotto claims the chimps were let out by a vandal that had cut a lock, however that remains unproven. All of these articles have been posted on this Simian Library.

In February, 2009, tragedy strikes, and the world’s attention turns to the issue of private ownership of chimpanzees. On a cold afternoon in Stamford Connecticut, Travis the Chimpanzee attacks a long time friend of owner Sandra Herold named Charla Nash in Herold’s driveway. Travis is shot and killed by a patrol officer as the 14 year old, 200 pound male chimpanzee; tries to pry open the door of his patrol car as he responded to the tragedy. Nash is rushed to the hospital, and remains in a coma for months.

Weeks later, in early March, the US House of Representatives passes the Captive Primate Safety Act, banning sales of all primates across state lines. The bill moves on to the senate, where it still sits, not being acted on, to this day.

In late November, 2008, neighbors turned in a couple in Houston, Texas for a chimpanzee living in a garage in a suburban neighborhood. Fred Henry, now known simply as Henry, was over fifteen years old and had been living in the garage in a cage for 15 years. Weighing only 65 pounds, about 100 pounds underweight, the emaciated chimp is taken to the local SPCA where veterinarians and animal officials nurse him back to health. On Feb 23, 2009, Henry is moved to Chimp Haven in Shreveport, LA to live out the rest of his life with other chimps in a safe and enriching environment.

Later in March, a chimpanzee named Timmy escapes from his owners’ home in rural Missouri. The owner, Mary Overton, was a former director of The Simian Society of America, a group that promotes and encourages private primate ownership. Timmy is shot and killed by a police officer as he attempts to pry open the door to the officer’s patrol car. Investigators charge all residents of the home with animal cruelty, as they find a “puppy mill” on the premises, with dead dog carcasses scattered throughout the property and over a hundred sick and undernourished animals, including several monkeys.

On March 4, 2009 Nightline on ABC airs over fifteen minutes of footage taken by a HSUS undercover worker at the University Of Louisiana Lafayette National Primate Research Center. The video shows acts of cruelty and inhumane treatment of chimpanzees, including scores of baby chimpanzees in a holding cell with no enrichment or even a blanket. The video brings new awareness to the plight of research chimpanzees, and turns up the pressure on the labs. A follow up investigation by the USDA, following the issuance of a 108 page complaint by the HSUS against the lab, reinforces the findings of the video taken.

Carole Noon, founder and director of Save the Chimps in New Mexico and Fort Pierce Florida passes away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 59. Noon, perhaps the world’s most famous chimpanzee advocate, founded Save the Chimps in 1997. She led the purchase of the former troubled Coulston Foundation research facility near Almagordo, New Mexico in order to rescue over 250 chimpanzees that had been used by the government for research, mostly from the space program in the 60’s and 70’s. The chimpanzees in her care, now numbering over 270, were being moved from New Mexico to the Florida facility, hailed as the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world. Noon left a legacy of care, compassion, and love for the species that will never be duplicated. The chimpanzee community misses her dearly.

In June, a news story from a Tampa Florida television station airs a story about a baby chimpanzee now residing at Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota, Florida, home of the Rosaire family of circus trainers. The chimpanzee, named Eli, was supposedly rejected at birth by his mother and is being raised by Kay Rosaire and Gini Valbuena. Valbuena, a long time buyer of baby chimpanzees that once described herself as being “addicted to chimpanzees”, is advertised in the news story as the chimps’ “full time nanny”.

Source

The Rosaire’s had a coming out baby shower for the chimp in June, asking the public to donate toys and diapers, as well as pay the price of admission.

Source

In early September, Gini and the baby chimp are spotted at a winery in Florida, drinking mimosas and schmoozing with the public.

Source

Later in September, “chimpanzee encounters” with the baby chimpanzee and Gini Valbuena, are being advertised on a play for fee basis on the Big Cat Habitat home page. The addiction continues.

Source

On December 10, 2009 Tom, a 44 year old chimpanzee that lived the last 14 years at the wonderful Fauna Foundation in Canada, passed away. Tom had been a research chimpanzee for the first thirty years of his life, languishing in a five foot by five foot by seven foot high stainless steel cage. He was the victim of countless laboratory tests, biopsies, injections, and suffering. Tom was the face of Project R&R, aimed at releasing all chimpanzees from biomedical and invasive research, and the driving force behind the Great Ape Protection Act now before Congress. There are still 1400 chimpanzees used in biomedical research in the United States today.

Source

On December 17^th, 2009, ten more chimpanzees arrived in Fort Pierce Florida as part of the Great Chimp Migration continues. Save the Chimps, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world, transfers ten chimps at a time to the islands in the Florida facility as funds allow. An anonymous donor gave the $25,000 for this trip, and the Arcus Foundation has agreed to match all funds donated to Save the Chimps up until April of 2010. Start your year right – and donate to the Great Chimp Migration today!

Source

Chimpanzee Information

The Little Rock Zoo

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Poker Playing Chimpanzee, Mikey, Owner Judie Harrison

No comments:

Post a Comment

Labels

Blog Archive

To our ex-Chimpanzees

Search This Blog

Help Save Our Citizens and Our Chimpanzees

January's Article

Copyright © 2009 Chimpanzee Information - All Rights Reserved