Chimpanzee Information: Every Year Is The Year Of Gorillas For Dr. Cranfield and Dr. Gilardi

Friday, January 1, 2010

Every Year Is The Year Of Gorillas For Dr. Cranfield and Dr. Gilardi

This wonderful Vet, Dr. Cranfield was one of my primate vets for the Chimpanzees I owned in the past, Mikey and Louie. What a wonderful man and a great organization to donate to.

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Blog by: Dr. Mike Cranfield, Executive Director, MGVP, Inc. and Dr. Kirsten Gilardi, Co-Directors, Mountain Gorilla One Health Program

Dr. Mike Cranfield (left) and Dr. Kirsten Gilardi (right)

The United Nations designated 2009 as the Year of the Gorilla. With the world’s attention drawn to these magnificent animals, the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) was looked to more than ever for providing expertise on health issues affecting gorilla conservation.

The year 2009 was also unique in that we all experienced the worldwide epidemic of an infectious disease: H1N1, better known as the swine flu. This pandemic reinforced the concept that diseases emerge and can spread very quickly around the world by modern human activities. This was important for our organization, because the largest threat to the survival of the mountain gorilla, with only 700 animals left in the wild, is disease, especially diseases they can contract from people. For this reason, the “one health” approach to mountain gorilla conservation that the MGVP has always taken has never been more important. And so this year, the MGVP transformed itself into a new and even more powerful organization, the Mountain Gorilla One Health Program, by partnering with the Wildlife Health Center, at the University of California Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. This partnership provides incredible depth, expertise and capacity to the mountain gorilla health program we started in 1986. The Mountain Gorilla One Health Program takes into consideration the fact that the health of the gorillas is intimately linked to the health of other wildlife in the park, and of the people and their livestock surrounding the Park.

With tremendous pride and gratification, the MGVP just moved two orphan mountain gorillas, Ndeze and Ndakasi, to a new facility, thanks to the herculean efforts of Ms.Raemonde Bezenar and the Canadian friends of MGVP, who sponsored the construction of this new Senkwekwe Centre in Rumangabo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The orphans had been living in sub-optimal conditions in Goma, whereas Senkwekwe is a beautiful forest sanctuary. In collaboration with Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the MGVP continues to care for eight additional gorilla orphans in our facility at Kinigi in Rwanda, as well as three Eastern Lowland Gorilla orphans in Goma.

Most importantly, to reduce the exposure of gorillas to respiratory diseases from humans, the MGVP and governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda revised the tourist regulations to now require the wearing of masks by conservation personnel and tourists when viewing the gorillas – this will help to reduce the possibility that new viruses like H1N1, mentioned earlier, could infect mountain gorillas.

Last but not least, in 2009 we continued our programs that ensure the health of gorilla trackers and guides, and in collaboration with Wyman World Health Partners, we continued to help renovate community clinics close to the Park to improve the delivery of health of hygiene services to the people of the region. As well, we made great progress in setting up our Model Farms that demonstrate for communities how to increase production and efficiency of cows, and make bio-gas from manure to reduce their reliance on charcoal taken from the forest. In collaboration with Project Rwanda, we are providing cargo bikes to farmers to help them get their products to the local markets, and to district veterinarians to make their jobs more efficient.

This has been an incredibly exciting year for the MGVP, and having now established the Mountain Gorilla One Health Program with UC Davis, 2010 promises to be even more productive. Please join us in our efforts to ensure the survival of mountain gorillas and the well-being of their animal and human neighbors by donating today.

If you are a new donor, or a returning donor who can make your largest gift ever, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a donor who, like you, believes that our work to help mountain gorillas and people is critical.

Wishing you a healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year!

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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”.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Friday, January 1, 2010

Every Year Is The Year Of Gorillas For Dr. Cranfield and Dr. Gilardi

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