Casey and Murray the Chimpanzees get a new home at the Center for Great Apes

Before you read this story, I would like to correct some information that I know first hand not to be correct. I do not blame the writer, I blame the people that fed this information to the writer.

Let me begin by saying that the cages that Murray and Casey were in were not small! I did a few jobs for the owner of these chimpanzees and talked with her on the phone allot. They hadn't waited from 2003 to get a new home for their chimps, it was more like 4 years.

The woman that owned Murray and Casey did not contact the ChimpCare, because that only came into existence last year. I know, I was asked to be a part of it. The woman contacted Steve Ross and he kept telling her that he couldn't find a home for them. When it came time that I needed a home for my chimps, Mikey and Louie, I was referred to Steve Ross through a real Ape Specialist. Funny how I got a place for my 2 chimps before Murray and Casey got a home. Why do you suppose that is?

Once I found out how long they had been waiting, I, myself, set out and made many phone calls to see if I could find them a home, but with no luck.

Steve Ross, once again pats himself on the back, when IN FACT it should be Patti Ragen at the Center for Great Apes that should get the glory. It will be her and her staff that worry about these chimps every minute of every day. These folks will observe and take care of them for the next 30+ years. Where will Steve Ross fall in all of that? Kudos to you Patti, your staff and all of your good hearts. I know who should get credit and who does the most for the Chimpanzees.

I like the way Steve Ross says that Chimps need to be outside. I wonder why my ex-chimps aren't allowed outside all of the time, even after being at the little rock zoo for almost 2 years. Perhaps because their staff isn't as good as Patti's and Carol Noons staff with getting them joined up in a troupe.

Story;
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two aging chimpanzees who spent years living in small, indoor cages have moved to a wildlife sanctuary in Florida, ending a seven-year effort to raise funds to build their new homes, rescuers said on Monday.

The chimps, Casey and Murray, were bought as pets and lived in a family's private home in Suffern, New York, until they grew too hard to handle, said Steve Ross, director of Project ChimpCARE, which coordinated the move.

"It wasn't safe to keep them out and about in the house," he said.
The chimps, now about 20 years old, then spent about 12 years in small cages, he said.

Plans for their move began in 2003 when the owners contacted Project ChimpCARE at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

It took until this year to raise several hundred thousand dollars needed to build the chimps' housing, move them and add staff for their care at the Center for Great Apes, a 120-acre wildlife sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida, Ross said.


The sanctuary also is home to Bubbles, a chimp that once belonged to the late entertainer Michael Jackson, he said.

Casey and Murray are adjusting to their new home where they have been since last month, Ross said. Together after years of being separated by their wire cages, they are playing and grooming each other, he said.


"Going outside for the first time in a decade, that's a big change," Ross said, who said chimps can live several decades. They are native to equatorial Africa.

Both Casey and Murray were born at breeders, with Casey coming from the same breeder as Travis, a chimpanzee that attacked and badly mauled a Connecticut woman in 2009. Travis, who tore off much of the woman's face, was shot dead by police.


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