The Little Rock Zoo Dumps another animal

Then maybe they shouldnt be having all of these huge apes in such a tiny confinement. Why let mom have another one. Gorillas will cover hundreds of miles per day and here they are stuck in tiny little cages at night (I have seen their cage and actually held this baby gorillas hand) and then during the day about 1/2 acre. No wonder these gorillas die of heart attacks at young ages. They get no excersize!!!!! They already had a Gorilla die, in the past 2 years. This is abuse as far as Im concerned. They give us this bullshit that they are perserving the species. Don't they understand that they are preserving nothing if they can't live the way they are sppose to.

Primate Keeper Daphne Pfeiffer and Kristin Harris were the keepers there when we arrived with our chimpanzees, Mikey and Louie. Daphne was one of the keepers that were "SUPPOSE" to be taking care of our little Chimp Louie, who passed away THERE at the age of 6 years old. These people do not know what they are doing with the Apes. Most of them have no education in the species they care for. I hold Little Rock Zoo, Daphne Pfeiffer and Kristin Harris responsible for the death of a very healthy little chimp. OUR CHIMP! LOUIE!

Daphne Pfeiffer is also the one that insisted that we let our chimps out of their carry cages so her and Kristin could see the chimps. More like play with them. Daphne walked all around the dungeon they call a inside habitat (actually under the ground) with Mikey my 7 yr old on her back. She walked and showed him all around. They were giving each other kisses on the mouth and playing. While Daphne was having fun with Mikey, Kristin had Little Louie (NOW DEAD), and was playing with him.

Now you tell me. Does this sound like people that are professionals or people that work there because they like to play with the animals but then on their other side of their face, they tell the public that Chimps should not be pets. Um.......

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The first gorilla to be born at the Little Rock Zoo is leaving home.

Zoo officials say 5-year-old Mosi will eventually start to challenge his father, Fossey, for dominance in the family group and must be moved to keep the peace.

Primate keeper Daphne Pfeiffer told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/GQlDWP) Mosi probably won't really challenge his father until he is 8 or 9, but employees are beginning to see some irritation on the part of the females toward him. He'll be 6 on Oct. 10.

Primate keeper Daphne Pfeiffer told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Mosi probably won't really challenge his father until he is 8 or 9, but employees are beginning to see some irritation on the part of the females toward him.

Officials are going to ship him off to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, where he'll join a bachelor group.

Gorillas live in family groups consisting of a mature male, several females and their young.

Mosi' mother, Sekani, will have a baby this fall.
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Sarah Baeckler of CSNW is exploiting the Sanctuary Chimpanzees

Dear readers;
In a previous post I talked about how Sarah baeckler was using the sanctuary chimps in a magazine. Exploiting I say! Why is it ok for her to do that but when private owners exploit their chimpanzees it's the most awful thing in the world? IN my opinion her sanctuary and some of the zoos don't agree with Chimps in the entertainment business because if they are the only ones with chimps, they get to make money off of them.

Funny how Sarah was put at Sid Yost ranch to spy on him, when he was in fact one of the best trainers I ever meet. I spent 2 weeks with his chimps and him. One of which was Angel who was about 220 lbs. She laid in the hammock and let me tickle her, we did gardening together, she was just like an adult person. Now IF she had been abused at ALL, she would not have been out of her enclosure walking around the ranch. So Sarah and Bruce Wagman of the ALDF had a plan to set him up, she lied, and his chimps were taken away. For a reward........ she got the tiny little sanctuary, which by the way is in the coldest part of the country with her little troupe of 7 chimps. A thank you per say for lying. I know she lied about me! She along with others of her statue will lie to gain popularity. In my opinion she is a want to be, the worst kind of chimpanzee people. Those chimps should NOT be in such cold weather. How many times a year do you think they go outside? For years they never even had an outside enclosure. To me that's abuse!
After posting the previous article I received this comment about her, which in my opinion is right on the mark.

Comment from one of my readers
This is hideous. Is there no other way for the hypocrites to gain noteriety and donations other than to pat themselves on the back and bring down others?


Ms Baeckler, well known in the small chimp circles she runs with, has been used as a pawn and figurehead for their advocacy of non-exploitation for almost seven years now.

She has made a career out of whoring herself for her own noteriety and fame, at the expense of others.

Is she truly a primatologist?

Is she truly and advocate?

Or is she just a mouthpiece for the Goodall's and the Fouts' of the world - who used the bespectacled mousey little make believe scientist to lie about Yost, advance her own personal agenda, and reward her with her little seven chimp sanctuary in the hills of Washington.

Hey Beackler, if you really want to do something valuable with your life, why don't you drag your sorry little lying ass in front of the cameras and tell the world all of the horrific things that the US Government is still doing to chimps - I don't see you advocate for them.

Glamour Schlamour.

The Little Rock Zoo Made the worst Zoo List - Yeah

For those of you readers that are new to this site The Little Rock zoo had 2 of my ex-chimps, one if which, Louie at the age of 7 passed away in their care!  He was still a baby. Never sick one day in his short little life. We love you Louie Louie. I have been trying to get the other one out of there (have a place for him) before he dies also. In the past 3 years they have has 2 infant chimps die, one adolescent, and a gorilla. I hope  this brings awareness to not only the elephants but also the Chimpanzees!
I HATE this zoo for allowing my little chimp to die. He was cared for with a vet that specializes in Reptiles! For Goodness sake/ if you scroll down you can read all of the posts about our little Louie and the uncaring way they told us about him. Our hearts are broken to say the least. We thought they would be well taken care of. My other chimp, Mikey is still being housed all by himself after 2 years. I believe they have no idea what they are doing. Sometimes it just seems as though no one cares. I even contacted Bruce Wagman of the aldf (whom I thought was a friend of mine and cared for all animals,) BUT he wasn't interested in helping me get Mikey out of there where he could be safe and with other chimps. The place where he should be I have been there dozens of times and actually placed a monkey there who is thriving with his female friend.

If anyone can help my little chimp who I love soooo much please contact me through this blog. The writer of this article, if you would like to know some of the real truth about this zoo, I'm the one to tell you. I would be more than happy to tell you everything from my own experience and things that were told to me by one of the caretakers of the zoo. Just google my name for my history.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Catherine Doyle, 323-301-5730, Catherine@idausa.org

Little Rock, Ark. (January 17, 2012) – The 2011 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, released yesterday by In Defense of Animals (IDA), once again exposes the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos, where lack of space, unsuitably cold climates and unnatural conditions condemn Earth’s largest land mammals to lifetimes of deprivation, disease and early death. The list is in its eighth year.

A promising trend toward the closure of inadequate elephant displays continued in 2011 and includes zoos that have appeared on IDA’s annual list. The most recent are the Central Florida Zoo and Southwick’s Zoo in Massachusetts. The Toronto Zoo’s appearance on the 2009 list sparked a campaign that led to the closure of that exhibit in 2012. This brings the number of zoos that have closed or will close their elephant exhibits to 22, and zoo experts expect that number to rise.

The Little Rock Zoo appears for the first time on IDA’s list with the following entry:

Little Rock Zoo (Arkansas) – Two’s not a crowd. After the death of Mary in 2011, IDA urged the zoo not to seek a cage-mate for remaining elephant Ellen but to instead close its outdated exhibit and send Ellen to a spacious, natural-habitat sanctuary. Instead, the zoo recklessly rushed in two older elephants acquired from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – even though Ellen and one of the elephants were predictably incompatible – in order to meet the required AZA minimum of three elephants. Ellen died less than a month later, and the zoo found itself with two elephants and again out of compliance. With a shortage of elephants in zoos, it’s only a matter of time before this zoo is forced to end its elephant program. It should save Little Rock taxpayers some money and the elephants a lot of misery by ending its elephant program now.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park (California) earns yet another dishonorable mention, and the San Antonio Zoo (Texas) becomes the newest inductee into the Worst Zoos for Elephants Hall of Shame, a special honor reserved for the worst repeat offenders.

Another result of IDA’s relentless advocacy for elephants in zoos has been the creation of an historic management policy by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The new policy calls for an end to handling that requires keepers to share the same unrestricted space with elephants. If the AZA is serious about enforcing this policy, it will facilitate an end to the use of the bullhook, a weapon used by keepers to threaten and often inflict painful physical punishment.

“IDA’s Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list illustrates the many serious problems that condemn elephants to lives of misery in zoos,” said IDA Elephant Campaign Director Catherine Doyle. “These include abnormal repetitive behaviors, hyper-aggression, social isolation, and deadly conditions such as foot and joint disease caused by lack of space and movement.”

“Scientific research has shown what elephants need: space to walk miles every day, large families with whom to spend their lives, and rich natural environments,” said Doyle. “Caging elephants in zoo displays is not humane and it is not conservation.”

For more information, please visit www.HelpElephants.com.


Contact: Catherine Doyle, 323-301-5730, Catherine@idausa.org

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.
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IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048

The Little Rock Zoo has no answers for us about our Chimp Louie dieing! Nor do they care!

So many questions and no answers
by Greg Harrison

It has now been over 2 weeks since we received the email informing us of Louie’s passing, and while the grief, emptiness, and sadness is still unbearable at times, in those moments when we have some time to ponder lucid thoughts, all we are left with are many, many questions….and no answers.

Judie has always given you, her readers across the globe, the opportunity to probe and discuss while learning about apes and monkeys ion ways no other site on the internet provides. Her point of view is like no other, as we have owned primates, worked with primates, and when challenged with the ultimate questions that have confronted so many private owners before us – “What do you do when you know they can’t be with you any longer?” – We answered with what we thought at the time was the correct thing to do – and we placed them.

Here is a link to the story that was posted on the internet - fed by a press release by the PR folks at the zoo – and not really reported on. Take a quick second to read the link below, and then save the link so you can follow along with the tale:

http://www.katv.com/story/15298888/zoo-sadly-reports-loss-of-louie-the-chimp

Now that Louie has passed on from this world, and we have begun the grieving process, this blog would like for you readers to take a few minutes and ponder the questions that are running through our collective brains today:

1. Why weren’t we informed that Louie was sick? Why weren’t we asked for any of the “gen etic records” that the press release claims that could have “aided in the diagnosis” of Louie’s disease?

2. The zoo knew where the chimps were born. We discussed that with them at length before they went there. Why didn’t the zoo veterinarian call the facility, or us, to discuss her needs?

3. What resources did the vet tap into across the world for help with Louie’s condition? Did she call the CDC? Did she call the NIH? Was there any investigation into this condition?

4. The following link, easily found in a 30 second search on the internet, quotes a world renowned researcher, Dr. Alessio Fasano at the University of Maryland “"Apes, monkeys and chimpanzees rarely develop autoimmune disorders…” – so why was the zoo veterinarian convinced that what Louie had developed was indeed an AID?

http://www.physorg.com/news171565111.html

5. Was there an environmental trigger at the zoo that, if Louie had been born with this condition would have triggered his response? We find it very coincidental that this same zoo, in the past three years, has had three infants die, and now 7 year old Louie die. Chimps are very hearty, durable animals. Louie had maybe had two colds in his whole life before he got to Little Rock. He had a great appetite, was as strong as an ox, and in this picture taken at the zoo in June (found on Flickr by us last month) he looks pretty good – maybe even a little heavy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30866950@N07/5915794195/sizes/o/in/photostream/

6. Lastly – we have asked the USDA to investigate the treatment and care that Louie received from the zoo in the past several months. Now we know by reading this blog that this poorly run governmental agency has had its own disagreements with Judie and I – but we must try to find a way within ourselves to trust the system to do the right things and investigate his death the right way. We promise to keep you readers informed of the progress of things from here on out, and we are going to be working on a tribute site to Louie where readers will be able to see many pictures of Louie, his media work, and some real good stories that we will share with you.

Thank you all for your readership

Louie Our Chimpanzee Dies at the Little Rock Zoo

My husband Greg wrote this for Louie. I still can't write anything. The tears come down so hard I can't see.

"Our youngest son died yesterday morning. He was a week and a day short of his eighth birthday. The email said that he had an auto immune disorder that he had been fighting for several weeks, and that the doctors and the care staff had made every effort to save his little life, but, as they said in the email, it just wasn’t meant to be.

So sad that these people that had truly come to know our son would seem so indifferent to the only mother and father he had ever known when they described his passing to us. They fed, played, and cared for him for almost three years, and I believe in my heart that they had come to love him too, but not like Judie and I did.

We met Louie on Christmas Eve in 2003. The owners of the facility where we had adopted his brother, Mikey, sent us an email with a picture attached of a fuzzy little baby boy. He was 4 months old at the time. They said in the email that we just had to have him – that he was going to be small and was very lovable. We fell in love that cold Christmas Eve, and three months later he was home with us.

Louie was a very special son. He was smart, kind, gentle to all living creatures, and had a wonderful disposition. He loved his Vitamin Water and his Saturday morning pound cakes. He loved puppies and his big brother. He loved bellies – fat or skinny, old or young – he never met a belly he did not love. He bottle fed bear cubs, baby monkeys, and even a few children. But most of all, he loved Judie and I. He touched tens of thousands, maybe millions of lives. He performed at schools, nursing homes, colleges, people’s backyards, and on the television. He worked with Conan, Human Giant, All Time Low, and for Oprah. He was the face of Monkey Butt Powder, Citizens Bank, and at times the powerful Philadelphia radio station WMMR.

But in our lives, he was just our little Boo-Boo – the cutest little snaggle- toothed sweetest chimpanzee that anyone will ever know. Judie and I loved him with all of our heart, and all of our soul. In the last few months that the chimps lived with us, our hearts were broken because we knew that as they got older and stronger, our ability to keep them safe from harm and all of the world’s dangers were quickly coming to an end and that we needed to find for them a place where the dangerous world we live in would not bring them harm, and Little Rock Zoo offered them a sanctuary of sorts. They would be safe, and they would be together, and they would never have to leave. That was less than three years ago. Now Louie is gone to this mysterious disease, and Mikey is left all alone, missing his baby brother. Our hearts ache for the loss of our Louie, but they ache more for Mikey’s loss of his true best friend and his companion of over seven years.

I missed Louie every day as I went about my life since the chimps left, as familiar things I would think of or see would bring back the sweet memories of our time together. Just walking through a grocery store would take me back to things they love, and then it would take hours sometimes to shake off the emptiness that I would feel after seeing a simple container of pudding on a shelf. It has been said that losing a child is the hardest thing any parent will ever have to face, and now we understand. The hurt is profound, and the sense of loss is unbearable. We love you little Boo Boo, and we always will. Please watch over your big brother as he searches for your soul in the wind. We are sorry we couldn’t have been there to help you in your time of pain and suffering, and for that I will never forgive the people that we entrusted your care to – as they never even told us you were sick. We will cross our celestial paths once again in whatever lives there are beyond this one, and I will look for you to give me your biggest hug and shake your little butt for me as you did here on earth.

Louie My Chimpanzee has died at the Little Rock Zoo SOOOOOOO SAD!!!

This is probably the hardest and the most hurt we have ever felt in our entire lives. This to us is like losing a child. A child that was only 7 years old and had at least 40 more years with his brother Mikey.

This will be brief, for now. My husband and I will be doing a nice segment on Louie when we are able to stop feeling such great lose and hurt. Please check back.

One of the two loves of our lives has passed away at the Little Rock Zoo.

I entrusted this zoo to take care of Louie and Mikey, my ex-chimps, but now Mikey is alone and Louie at the age of 7 years old is gone and Mikey is still not with the troupe even after 3 years.

I am working on some angles with Mikey which at this point I can't disclose.

Because Mikey and Louie did allot of jobs in the media, they met allot of people that loved them. I'd like to give anyone the opportunity to e-mail us with your comments, stories of yourself and Louie or just to say goodbye to a wonderful, sweet little chimp.

You can e-mail us at

louiethechimp at gmail dot com

or you can post a comment here on this post. Thank you.

We love you Louie and you will always be our hearts.

Any media that would like to interview me I would be more than happy to tell you their story at the Little Rock Zoo. You can e-mail me at the same e-mail addy listed above.

Capital One has pulled the Chimp ad- thank you

McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp. has pulled a television commercial that featured a chimpanzee and says it will not use primates in any future ads.

The company says the decision was made after reviewing information from PETA about the treatment of apes used in advertising.

“We believe you have made profound and compelling arguments about the treatment of primates,” Capital One (NYSE: COF) said in a statement. “The ad in question is going off the air and we will not use primates in future advertising.”

The commercial did not air in the Washington market.

PETA claims chimps and other great apes used in advertising are typically babies forcibly taken from their mothers shortly after birth and are physically and psychologically abused as part of their training.

It says 10 of the 15 largest advertising agencies now prohibit the use of great apes in their advertising campaigns.
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Seven-year-old Claude the Chimp on his way to a new life in Nelspruit

Seven-year-old Claude the chimp
 Picture: JACQUES MARAIS

"HOW would you like to fly to the Central African Republic in a Hercules aircraft, rescue chimpanzees, distribute mozzie nets with Kingsley Holgate and rub shoulders with Jonty Rhodes?"

That was the question put to me by Lesley Sutton, Land Rover's media manager, two weeks earlier, and was why I was spending this particular dawn shaking and rattling down the runway at Waterkloof Air Force Base, en route to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, via Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It was a nervous group of adventurers that clung to their nylon webbing seats that morning, apprehensive of everything, from the destination to the flight, to the lack of toilets on the flight and the lack of information we'd been given.

But the rattles soon changed from alarming to comforting and in no time at all people were strolling around, sharing snacks and getting to know one another. Jonty, spotting a gap, climbed into the driver's seat of the Land Rover Discovery4 that we were flying up for Kingsley, and promptly fell asleep in surreal comfort, surrounded by mosquito nets.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft was on a routine mission to ferry supplies from South Africa to troops based in the DRC and the Central African Republic (CAR). That explained the military supplies and the mail. The civilians and their kit, though, were part of a different plot.

Our humanitarian mission was piggybacking on theirs. For years Chris Thorpe has been working with Africa's modern explorer, the man with the beard and the passion for Africa, Kingsley Holgate. Under the banner of United Against Malaria, Chris has taken it upon himself to join Kingsley in combating malaria, using his networks and his business savvy to generate funds for mosquito nets, which Kingsley distributes on his adventures. We would be meeting up with Kingsley and his crew in Bangui, the capital of the CAR, on their latest expedition.

That explains the Discovery packed with mozzie nets. But the cage?

The centre of Africa is also the centre of the bushmeat trade, where wild animals, including apes, are hunted or trapped and then sold in markets. Another threat to Africa's apes is the entertainment industry - hotel and bar owners use chimpanzees as drawcards for their establishments, teaching them tricks to entertain the patrons. Well, we were going to break out a few of those chimps.

After six hours of trying to sleep, trying to read, trying to look out of the windows and trying to make small talk above the clamour of the engines, our plane stoops onto the Kinshasa runway in the DRC. The cargo ramp begins to lower before we're even stopped, and in pours the syrupy air of the equator.

We step onto the tarmac, only to be told by soldiers with AK-47 not to venture too far from the plane. We loiter under the wing, a line of do-gooders in a stripe of shade. Then the news arrives that the President is about to land. More guns arrive, and we are ushered inside the shabby airport. No one is allowed anywhere near the runway while the First Presidential Jet lands, and, to make sure of it, a bakkie load of troops is dropped off to line the tarmac. Thirty minutes later the jet swoops past, and we can escape back to our plane.

Bangui, the capital city of the CAR, lazes next to the Ubangi River which stretches out to the Congo and makes the biggest of our own rivers look like a storm-water drain. And the Bangui is just a tributary of the Congo River.

The airport is less impressive and, after taxiing to a stop, we are stuck there for a while. Luckily we are able to retire to the VIP lounge, where we are greeted by Kingsley and his wife Gill, drink a cold beer and watch the air-con being worked on.

The hold-up is our accommodation - it transpires that the CAR is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence two days later, and President François Bozizé has handed our hotel rooms over to his mates who will be dropping in for the occasion. Such is life.

So instead of a leisurely cruise around the dusk attractions of Bangui, a city where the French influence doesn't seem to have got much past baguettes and the language, we bus over to the South African National Defence Force base to regroup and plan our next move.

Our pilot, Major Gareth Gourlie, is in charge and makes an executive decision, which is that we should neither separate, nor drive around too much after dark. We submit - after all, this is a country that's had more coups than a dovecote. All it means is a night or two on mattresses on the floor of the base - things could definitely be worse.

Just after 4am we're up. Photojournalist Jacques Marais and I have organised a tour guide - Captain Allen Souter, 22 years in the defence force and second in charge of the SA troops based in the CAR. A useful chap to have around in a tight spot, then.

Our first stop is the banks of the Bangui River, as the sun's alchemy turns the brown waters gold. Life revolves around the river and the pirogues, and even now the waters are busy with fisherman and ferries, while the shores are beginning to stir with food vendors and nets being pulled in. We drift along, trying to blend into the background, but tourists are a rarity in the CAR and everyone wants their picture taken.

Having done that, Alan takes us up to a viewpoint overlooking the city, at the foot of a Hollywood-style sign - "Bangui la Coquette". A muzzy cityscape unfolds beneath us, more trees and dirt than tar and concrete. Thousands of giant bats are returning to their roost at the old Catholic church as the sun strengthens. Calling this place a "flirt" is a little optimistic, while the road up here is probably a grade 2 4x4 track.

We ask Alan if he can take us to a market - that's where the colour of any African city can be found. We're greeted with the normal chaos and smiles - only the language and the long loaves really set it apart from any market in Mozambique. We wander around, chatting to the friendly, tourist-starved people. But we want to see bushmeat. Is it really a way of life?

Five minutes later we've walked past piles of smoked fish, a huge barbel slowly suffocating on a table and are staring at the grimacing faces of monkeys and forest antelope. A lone baby pangolin is perched on top of a mound of dead animals, its armoured scales and praying claws somehow far worse than the rest. We ask about chimps - we need to go to a different market to buy one of them, but we don't really have the stomach for it.

Instead we trade the cacophony of the market for the even greater cacophony of the river, where an immense boat race is taking place. The pirogue race is an annual event, made even bigger by the 50th anniversary celebrations. We are told that teams from Chad, Cameroon and Angola have made the trip.

Jacques and I join the rest of our team here. Bozizé makes an appearance, warmly greeting a few of us, but not to apologise for taking our rooms, it seems. His entourage is menacing - soldiers from Chad manning machine guns mounted on bakkies, Raybans poking out of green turbans and a sense of violence in the air.

The president takes a 9mm pistol from a bodyguard, raises it and sends a bullet whistling into the Congo. The race is on! We don't know who's who, or who's winning, but the fervour is catching. I jump into a pirogue and follow the action for a while. About 60 paddlers are driving each boat forward, doing a huge circular lap. A local team wins and the chaos intensifies. Smiles dominate the proceedings, while the athletes trade good-natured insults.

We can't stick around to see the medals handed out, though. We've got a date with the First Lady, a school and 300 mozzie nets. There, Kingsley is continuing his good work, repeating the message - as he has thousands of times before. The fact that the President's wife is accompanied by four government ministers shows the high level of support Kingsley and this whole mission has.

At the same time a few of our group had gone to fetch Claude, the young chimpanzee that had been rescued from being an attraction at a bar. We had originally planned to rescue up to four chimps, but one had died before we arrived and the other two were being kept by the owner, who was not content to release her money-spinners. Still, rescuing even one animal is a start, and the seven-year-old Claude would be transferred to the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden outside Nelspruit.

Our two objectives are now complete, and we make our way back to the military base before dark. Jacques and I requisition our own transport again, this time to get a closer look at the old church we had spotted from the hillside. Styled on the Notre Dame in Paris, it's beautiful in the afternoon light, and a service is being held under a tree to the side of the building.

Hymns float over to us as we take pictures in the fading light, an incongruous end to such a frenetic day, and ultimately of our mission in Bangui. © Stephen Smith

For more information on our expedition, and the goals of the Afrika Expeditionary Force, see www.afrikaforce.org.za. For a better understanding of Claude's new home and future, go to http://www.chimpeden.com/.
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Missouri is trying to pass a law to stop the breeding of Primates..... YEAH!!!!! Good bye Connie Casey Braun

Readers!!! This has made my year!!!! Everyday I do research on articles about Primates, and for the most part it is all bad or very sad news, but not today!!! This is something to hope for and will change the world of primates as we know it.

Connie Casey Braun of the Missouri Primate foundation (there's that word again that makes me laugh... foundation haha) is the largest breeder in the US and then there is another chimpanzee breeder in Missouri that recently bought out the breeder chimps from the Glasses in Texas. if these 2 breeding facilities have to have all of the chimps fixed that will be the end of pet chimps, pets in the entertainment business, chimp attacks, babies being ripped off their moms screaming. this my dear readers would be a miracle, I will keep my fingers crossed for this law to go through. KUDOS to the St Louis Zoo!!!!!

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JEFFERSON CITY — A chimpanzee named Travis mauled a woman and left her face unrecognizable when he escaped his home in Stamford, Conn., and attacked Charla Nash, a close friend of his owner on Feb. 16, 2009. A year later, another chimpanzee, Sueko, also escaped from his home in Kansas City, and attacked a police car. Both Travis and Sueko came from Jefferson County, Mo.

The Senate Agriculture Committee debated a bill that would require owners to obtain permits for and neuter their primates incited passionate testimonies from several Missouri primate breeders.

Sen. Joseph Keaveny, D-St. Louis City, sponsored the bill after Eric Miller, veterinarian and senior vice president at the Saint Louis Zoo, requested these large and exotic animals be regulated.
"Missouri is one of the few states with no (statewide) regulation of large and exotic animals," Miller said. "It's a national standard Missouri is working on catching up to."

Currently, Missouri regulates these primates on a county-by-county basis. Some counties in Missouri don't have primate requirements; others require primate owners to register their pets with the county sheriff. Owners must give the sheriff's office their address, a description of their primate and a description of the primate's living conditions.

If the bill passes, the Missouri Department of Agriculture would issue the statewide permits to primate owners, however, they have not yet taken a position for or against the bill.

More than 25 people attended a March 3 committee hearing to speak against the bill. Miller, the only proponent who spoke in favor of the bill, testified on behalf of the Saint Louis Zoo.

Suzanne Windsor, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed exhibitor of primates, opposed the bill.

"It's an all out ban," Windsor said. "They are trying to go above and beyond what the state is supposed to be doing by going above and beyond federal regulations."

Her main concern was the bill's requirement to spay and neuter — both of which are high-risk surgeries for a primate, whose reproductive system resembles a human's. She said it would result in the gradual phase-out of Missouri primate breeding.
"For people that are USDA-licensed to breed and sell, it causes unnecessary surgeries on primates that could cause their deaths," Windsor said. "If you have a 22-year-old primate that's never been spayed, there's a good chance she could never come off that table [alive]."

Keaveny said he is looking into changes to the bill to appease the opposition. He said he has received several suggestions from a veterinarian to help the bill pass next year.

"We are open to making those [necessary] adjustments," he said.

The bill would exempt zoos, nonprofit organizations, animal control and law enforcement, circuses, educational institutions and exhibits, animal sanctuaries and veterinarians.

Currently, 15 states have a permit system for owning primates and 20 states have outlawed some, if not all, primate ownership. States that don't have regulations include Missouri border states Kansas and Nebraska.

A violation of the act would result in a class A misdemeanor charge unless the person intentionally releases a non-human primate, which would result in a class D felony.
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Shame on you Capital One haven't you learned anything???????

For all of those that have a Capitol one credit card..... The interest you pay to this company is paying for them to use Chimpanzees in their advertisements which is NOT cheap and is to say the least... CRUEL.Not only do these chimps have to travel in small cages to get to their destiny, they are made to do actions over and over again with long stressful days doing things that they really don't want to do. Then the saddest part is that when this owner can't use this chimp for money anymore when it gets to big, where does that chimp go? These exhibitors that have chimps don't keep them around for 40-50 years feeding and housing them when they can't make money off of them anymore! Think about all of this Capital One when you think it's so cute to use them. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

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Despite recent controversy surrounding the use of chimpanzees in advertising, Capital One is airing a new commercial that features a chimpanzee "actor." Chimpanzees and other great apes used for advertising are typically very young animals who were forcibly taken from their mothers shortly after birth. They are often physically and psychologically abused during training to ensure that they will perform confusing, unnatural behaviors on cue. By the time apes reach approximately 8 years of age, they are too strong to be safely handled and are often discarded at wretched roadside zoos or other substandard facilities. Chimpanzees can live into their 60s, so life after "retirement" from the entertainment industry often means decades spent in appalling conditions.

The American Humane Association (AHA), which was reportedly on set during the production of the Capital One commercial, only monitors animals when they are on set and does nothing to prevent behind-the-scenes abuse and neglect. The AHA does not monitor pre-production training, the living conditions of animals, premature separation of babies from their mothers, or the disposition of animals when they are no longer useful to trainers.

Ten of the top 15 advertising agencies in the U.S.—including BBDO, Young & Rubicam, and McCann Erickson—now have policies in place that prohibit the use of great apes in their ads. In 2010, Dodge, Pfizer, Heartland Payment Systems, and Europcar pulled or modified ads that featured apes after learning about the ethical problems associated with exploiting these highly intelligent and sensitive animals.

Using the form below, please send a quick, polite note to Capital One and urge the company to follow the lead of other companies by agreeing to pull its commercial featuring a chimpanzee.
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2 Years ago today was the horrible Travis the Chimp/Sandra Herold/Charla Nash incident

Travis the chimp destroyed Charla Nash’s face, eyesight and her trust in wild animals when the animal mauled her on this date in 2009.

That horrific attack on Feb. 16, 2009 thrust Connecticut’s exotic animal laws into the spotlight and the state Department of Environmental Protection is revamping the law and planning to ban chimps, gorillas, orangutans, pythons and some more common animals, like wild ferrets.
Dozens of animal lovers, reptile shop owners and exhibitors voices their concerns at a public hearing at DEP headquarters in Hartford on Tuesday.
“It will really hurt the reptile industry. Connecticut, for a long time, has had some really lenient laws on the big snake and lizard community. A ban would be devastating,” Jeremy Turgeon, of J and D Reptiles, said.
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Charla Nash's Lawyer is sueing Connecticut

Attorney Charles Willinger says the law regulating large animals as pets has been on the books in Connecticut for decades, but the problem is it was never enforced for the pet chimpanzee who mauled his client, Charla Nash.

“In terms of my client, obviously, it’s a little bit too little too late,” says Willinger.

Willinger is preparing a $150 million lawsuit on behalf of Nash to cover her mounting medical and health care bills.

Asked if Nash may be preparing for a face transplant, Willinger would only say that it’s something they’re looking into.

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection is holding a hearing on the issue tonight at 6 p.m. at DEP Headquarters at 79 Elm Street, Hartford. More details below.
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DEP Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Regulations Concerning Possession of Wild Animals


Public Hearing at DEP Headquarters Feb. 15

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold a public hearing February 15 on proposed changes to regulations governing the importation, possession, and liberation of wild animals.

The public hearing will take place at 6 p.m. at DEP Headquarters, 79 Elm Street, Hartford.

The proposed regulations are the result of the passage of Public Act 09-198, which required the development of new regulations affecting the importation, possession, and liberation of wild animals in the state.

DEP Commissioner Amey Marrella said, "The proposed regulations create a workable and efficient means of regulating possession of wild animals – while at the same time protecting public health and safety, agricultural interests, and the health of native plants and animals."

"These proposed regulations," Marrella said, "are the result of a robust process that included three informal public forums, discussions with interested stakeholders and consultation with other state agencies – such as the Departments of Public Health and Agriculture – whose responsibilities touch on this issue. We thank everyone who has participated in this process and look forward to hearing additional comments at the upcoming public hearing."

Proposed Regulations:

Establish lists of wild animals that, due to their inherent threat to public health and safety, agricultural crops or native plants and animals may not be imported or possessed in Connecticut.

Allow municipal parks, zoos, marine mammal parks, aquaria, circuses, nature centers, museums, exhibitors, laboratories, and research facilities to import and possess many species without a permit – and establish permit provisions for these facilities to have animals listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern in Connecticut.

Provide for the general public to possess a wide range of animals – generally speaking, those commonly sold in the pet trade – without a permit.

The regulations would also establish:

Explicit criteria for what constitutes a museum, nature center, or exhibitor;

Provisions to allow for veterinarians to care for a range of animals;

Requirements for notification in the event of wild animal escape; and

Wild animal disease prevention and reporting requirements.

All interested persons are invited to express their views on the proposed regulations at the February 15 public hearing.

The DEP will also accept written comment on the proposed regulations through the close of business on March 1. Comments can be mailed to the DEP at 79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT, 06106, to the attention of George Babey, Public Hearing Officer; or emailed to George.babey@ct.gov

All comments submitted to DEP in writing or offered at the public hearing will be considered in the development of the final regulations. The final regulations must be approved by the General Assembly’s Regulations Review Committee before they can take effect.

Copies of the proposed regulations may be obtained online at www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2586&Q=471192, by writing the DEP Bureau of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division, 79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT, 06106, or by calling (860) 424-3011.
Information found here

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The HSUS speaks out about Chimpanzees in entertainment

February 08, 2011


Mistreatment of Chimpanzees Is No Joke

I was in the Dallas area two Sundays ago — one week before the Super Bowl game at Cowboys Stadium. I was there to take a look at the construction of our new Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, an important add-on to the larger animal-care enterprise we operate at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, in Murchison, Texas. As I do whenever I go to Black Beauty, I criss-crossed the ranch pastures to see many of the 1,000 or so animals who live on them. Among the first creatures I see on my visits are three chimpanzees — Kitty, Lulu and Midge, since their home is near the entrance at Black Beauty. They’ve got an expansive outdoor habitat, they receive a healthy diet, and they can enjoy each other’s company. But it’s a world apart from their native habitats in Tanzania or Uganda, and they are far away from their family members and the freedom that life in the wild would bring.

The HSUS

Kitty, one of the chimpanzees at our Black Beauty sanctuary.

They are there because of our human failings. People once used them in circuses and laboratory research, but then discarded them when they’d had enough of them. It’s never a good outcome to be discarded, and there’s usually some sort of trauma associated with it. But beyond that, I also think about it from our organizational perspective, and especially the resources needed to care for them. HSUS and The Fund for Animals — really, our donors — are financing the housing and feeding of these animals for decades, at a cost that will ultimately run into seven figures.

On the weekend following my visit, the Super Bowl was played just about an hour’s drive from Black Beauty. I watched it from the comfort of my home, hoping that in the torrent of ads, I would not see any more of those silly chimpanzee commercials — not because I don’t think the animals are appealing, but because I know what happens to them when they grow up. The animal-training companies that rent out animals for these gambits typically get rid of them when they reach early adolescence and they are too strong to be used on movie sets or in advertisements. They are cast aside at 7 or 8 years old, or even younger, even though they have a life expectancy of up to 60 years.

I was pleased to see many fewer chimpanzees in ads, especially compared to a few years ago when it seemed they were everywhere. This time, CareerBuilder stood alone in its callousness, continuing the theme it’s developed in recent years. For their cheap, tawdry and not very funny 30-second advertisement, they keep the animal-training companies in business, and the consequences are clear: chimpanzees will be abandoned, and operations like Black Beauty Ranch will have to clean up the mess they’ve made. The handful of heroic great ape sanctuaries operating in small rural outposts throughout the nation will spend millions in the decades ahead dealing with the lack of forethought exhibited by CareerBuilder and similar companies that just don’t get it. They are happy to profit, while the animals will pay with their lives, so many of them being forced to live in roadside zoos, research labs, or as pets in someone’s backyard or basement. In the end, only a small percentage of them go to sanctuaries.

In yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor, Patti Ragan of the Center for Great Apes put the lie to any fanciful claims about the educational value of such commercials, or the notion that CareerBuilder had merely brought its chimps “out of retirement.” What the company did was to line up a new generation of young chimpanzees, taken from their mothers at an early age and channeled into the pipeline of caged confinement. Ragan also points out that such portrayals of chimpanzees have a negative conservation impact — who would think that these animals are endangered in the wild when they are used so frivolously?

It’s shocking corporate indifference at work, blithely pressing chimpanzees into service for a commercial, in a day when millions of people understand that this kind of use is plainly wrong. It’s the wrong kind of brand awareness, and dozens of companies have pulled such advertisements or declined to use great apes in such demeaning and harmful fashion. To use chimpanzees as clowns is the oldest and the crudest of vaudevillian gimmicks, and CareerBuilder deserves the criticism being sent its way in the social media.

At HSUS, we’re active on a full range of fronts to help chimpanzees, whether it’s pushing to get chimpanzees out of laboratories, teaching people about chimps and their endangerment, supporting the work of sanctuaries and the protection of chimpanzees in the wild, investigating the mistreatment of chimps and other primates in captivity, pushing for passage of the Captive Primate Safety Act and the Great Ape Protection Act, or calling upon the federal government in our Change Agenda to list all chimpanzees as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (currently, wild chimpanzee populations are listed as endangered while captive chimpanzee populations are listed as threatened).

It’s time for all of the ad agencies to stop using chimps in entertainment, and it’s time for companies to make a similar pledge. It couldn’t be an easier commitment, and there’s no sacrifice involved. Just let the human mind do something more creative and entertaining than have a few baby chimpanzees walk around in human clothing. And do something not just for the animals, but for the self-sacrificing animal advocates who have plenty of other things to occupy their moral attention and their energies than caring for abandoned chimpanzees.
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Executives at Lincoln Park Zoo were not amused at the Careerbuilders commercials

Super Bowl advertisers will do anything for a laugh when they’re paying $3 million for 30 seconds of air time. But executives at the Lincoln Park Zoo were not amused by Chicago-based Careerbuilder.com’s Super Bowl ad Sunday. It featured chimpanzees dressed in human garb sideswiping and trapping a helpless guy in his car.

The Zoo lashed out at Careerbuilder for an “inappropriate use and portrayal of the species” in the Super Bowl ad, which Careerbuilder.com created in-house. Lincoln Park Zoo spokeswoman Sharon Dewar said zoo CEO Kevin Bell sent his counterpart at Careerbuilder a letter expressing his concerns a while ago, but never received a response. A Careerbuilder spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

Dewar said using chimps in ads and dressing them as humans contributes to the impression that chimpanzees are not an endangered species, when in fact they are. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has predicted chimpanzees could become extinct within 10 to 50 years.

Many ad agencies have agreed not to use chimps in advertising. But Careerbuilder had used chimps successfully in previous Super Bowl advertising and decided to bring them back this year.
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CareerBuilders used Chimps in their commercials to get chimps a job?

Cartoon chimpanzees are getting animated over on CareerBuilder's Facebook page right now, and we think you should join them! CareerBuilder just aired a Super Bowl ad in which it once again exploited chimpanzees in order to make the point that … wait, what point was it making? That it can find jobs for chimpanzees?
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For me, the highlight of the 2010 Super Bowl wasn't the Saints' inspiring victory in their first Super Bowl appearance but rather the abundance of animal-friendly commercials that ran between touchdowns. That's why I was saddened to hear that CareerBuilder is planning to run a commercial featuring real chimpanzees during the 2011 Super Bowl, even though the company was bombarded with thousands of letters from concerned people after airing similar ads in 2005 and 2006. CareerBuilder knows by now that chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are physically abused, torn away from their mothers when they're babies, and usually abandoned by the age of 8, but apparently it just doesn't care.
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Why not use Monster.com instead of CareerBuilders, they don't exploit Chimpanzees!

Well CareerBuilders has said that they did a marketing study and that the years they used Chimpanzees in their commercials they did better then when not. Well, CareerBuilders a lot of things have changed in the previous years that had made people aware that using chimps for anything is cruel treatment to the chimps and dangerous for the public. I hope their sales are the worst this year than ever before. I know I will be changing the channel when that commercial comes on.

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College students represent a key audience for youth-focused companies like CareerBuilder, which is why it's so unusual that the company has chosen to include something in their upcoming Super Bowl ad that young people overwhelmingly disagree with: cruelty to animals.

PETA recently learned that CareerBuilder has plans to run a new commercial featuring chimpanzees during the big game, despite hearing from thousands of concerned consumers after the company aired ad campaigns in 2005 and 2006 that portrayed chimpanzees as misbehaving office workers.

As students are becoming increasingly aware, chimpanzees used in the entertainment and advertising industries are typically very young animals who are prematurely removed from their mothers -- often just days or weeks after birth. Trainers use physical abuse in order to ensure that chimpanzees know "who's boss" and to force the animals to perform confusing, unnatural behaviors on cue. By the time chimpanzees reach approximately 8 years of age, they are too strong to be safely handled and are often discarded at unaccredited roadside zoos or otherwise warehoused in appalling conditions. PETA investigations have revealed that former "celebrity" apes were living in small cages littered with garbage and feces and were denied basic necessities, such as wholesome food and adequate veterinary care.

With such gruesome details coming to light, 10 of the top 15 advertising agencies in the world have now instituted policies that prohibit the use of chimpanzees and other great apes in their ads in order to avoid turning off potential customers. In fact, in 2010, every new ad that featured an ape was pulled or modified after companies were inundated with complaints from animal protection groups and the public. Dodge and Pfizer are just two examples of companies that altered their ads in order to cut the ape footage after learning about the ethical problems associated with exploiting these highly intelligent and sensitive animals.

So what gives, CareerBuilder? Are you really so dead set on alienating your target audience that you're willing to sabotage your own résumé by spending yet another year with your head in the sand? Luckily, other agencies like Monster offer similar services to job-seekers, without involving great apes in their advertising. College students looking to build a career should start with Monster, not CareerBuilder, until the company agrees to end the use of great apes in its advertisements.
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Noah the Chimpanzee who belonged to Gini Valbuena is in the superbowl commercials

Noah was born at the Sunrise Exotic Ranch Dripping Springs (recently sold their breeder chimps) approximately 7 years ago.

I was doing a set of commercials with my 2 chimps in Florida and the awful agent Bill Vergis mentioned to me about this woman Gini Valbuena, her site here. (OOOPS looks as though Valbuena has temporarlity taken her site down. You can check back later for that one, she'll put it back up.) Vergus had told me that she was selling her female chimp by the name of Kenya. I had done some research on her beforehand and knew of her history. A history of buying baby chimps and then getting rid of them at about the age of 6 years old. So we visited.

You can visit some videos here and please take notice of the names of the chimps. This is just in the past few years.

I had no idea she had a baby chimp but low and behold there he was laying on the floor in this encounter room she has.

Mikey didn't care too much for the baby and I was afraid he may hurt him so we moved out to her patio. My husband was with Louie, I with Mikey and Gini Valbuena with little Noah in her arms at about the age of 1 month old. She insisted that I hold him. My husband watched both other chimps and took a photo of me with Noah with my camera. The photos that are posted here belong to me and Gini Valbuena was well aware that they were being taken.

I held him for about 2 minutes and all of the sudden this horrible feeling came to me. I felt so bad for this little guy being ripped away from his mom. Reality struck, "I had done the exact thing with my 2 chimps." This was the beginning of my change of heart. I knew that this little guy, Noah would end up like all of the rest of the chimps Gini had owned, all over the place.

Notice in the photo that Noah has no hair on his face. Gini Valbuena always shaved their faces. The whole thing she does with these chimps is so sad for the chimps.

We visited with Kenya who Gini was trying to sell. I thought, um, if I can buy Kenya she could be with Mikey and Louie and have a permanent home with us instead of going god only knows where. I offered her 10K, not enough, 15K, still not enough. I asked Gini, how much do you want. She said that she wants to trade my little chimp Louie for Kenya. I couldn't believe what I was hearing!!! TRADE CHIMPS? You see, in Florida they have weight restrictions whereas they can't have encounters with chimps over a certain weight. Louie fell way below that because he was such a tiny chimp. She wanted to trade as though they were pieces of furniture and Kenya was an antique. Of course I said NO! My husband and I were out of there within minutes. This was the beginning of a battle between Gini Valbuena and myself that still lingers on to this day.

A few minutes later I went to the ladies room and still had my camera. On the way out I saw Noah laying in an old outdated crib, no longer allowed to be used for Human babies and took this photo. This photo belongs to me. Notice how his little leg and arm are stuck in between the bars of the crib. he was fussing so I went in and brought both his arm and leg back into the crib.

Valbuena sees nothing wrong with what she does. I, on the other hand feel as though this is one of the worst things you can do to a chimp. Love them like a Human baby, and then when you can't make any more money off of them, trade them in, get another one.  Gini Valbuena and Jeanne Rizzotto and some others ganged up on me after I placed my chimps. They made a horrible website full of lies because I, had seen the light. The light of the awful underworld of chimpanzees. I told the world, as I still do.

Now that you know how I first came into contact with Gini Valbuena, Noah's story continues......
You can see on this link, (woman with Noah is one of the Rosaires) that the next stop for Noah was the Rosaires of the circus see here that makes chimps ride horses, wear high heels chains around their necks. Notice how little Noah has a rope around his neck and his lips are tight together. This is a pouty face. I saw this with Mikey when I wouldn't give him what he wanted. Noah looks so sad!!!!

Now, this photo Here is at Steve martins place and please notice that Little Noah has a chain around his ankle and still has the pouty face.

The photos at the bottom of this page are of Noah and as the description at the bottom says Careerbuilders 2010.
Now where did Kenya go? The reason I went to Valbuenas in the first place. Kenya is residing at the Rosaires place (circus people). There was a short video on the internet that showed Kenya, Kira (another one of Valbuena's ex- chimps) and Noah, however it looks as though they have taken that down.

This is just one chimp's story and there are many more sad stories when it comes to chimps. They are tossed around to the highest bidder, made to do unnatural things and work, not have a normal chimpanzee structure of families, are bred and babies taken away, experimented on, and abused.


Noah at the age of 7 has already been taken from his mom, treated like a human baby, made to do unnatural things and work, has chains around his ankles and neck and is so sad for such a little chimp. If Noah was in the wild he would still be around his mom with her protection, her love, her teachings, but instead the next 40+ years of his life will be where? With who? doing what? Living how?

Here is another example of what type of person Gini Valbuena is;
DUIs
Published: Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 11:51 p.m.


Each person who is found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol is sentenced to attend DUI school unless the license has been permanently suspended or revoked. Addresses listed are based on public records and may not be the individual's current address. The following is a portion of cases filed July 10-16.

Valbuena, Carol Virginia, 9732 Moore Road, Lakeland - license suspended 6 months, 12 months probation, $1309.36 fine.

This public information was found here

I find this ironic because she use to slander me by saying I was a chain smoking tattoo covered foul mouth bitch. Yes I have 4 tattoos, one is a monkey, one is a chimp, and the other 2 are flowers. There is no law against tatoos as there is with drinking and driving. Smoking, I have since stopped. Darn I really hope she didn't have the newest little chimp, Eli in the car with her. Looks as though Valbuena may have a drinking problem. Here is a link to a video where she had Eli in her arms at a winery while she was drinking. Notice in this video she has a real hard time answering the question of "where did he come from?" Does it sound like to you a big fat lie? It does to me.

So tatoos or drinking and driving. Um not a hard one.



Thank you readers.

Tomorrow is the superbowl and the cruel treatment of chimpanzees start again

Hello readers,
As you know the Superbowl is tomorrow. We all love those "special" commercials that the companies work hard on to bring the viewers attention to their products. HOWEVER, this year a company by the name of Career Builders will be showing their commercials of Chimpanzees acting like Humans. Now, this company had already agreed with PETA years ago that they would not use chimps in the future. This was a well known fact and spread around the Internet.  If Career Builders can't keep their word, then why would anyone go to them for a job? I wouldn't trust them. Some viewers may find these funny, but those of us that know what these chimps have to go through in order for one commercial to be aired think this is awful!. Not just the work on set that they have to do, but the beatings beforehand and during the shootings of these commercials. Lets not forget about how they live either.

There will be one chimp in this commercial by the name of Noah. I met Noah when he was just 1 month old, owned by Gini Valbuena who insisted that I hold him. (I will post that photo along with others in the article). Gini Valbuena has bought and dumped Chimps for 40+ years now. (you can read about her on this blog) I will post  poor little Noah's sad life story so far. I believe he is only 7 years old. This is just one chimps story that will be in these commercials. I have seen the way Noah was raised, then transferred to another person and yet the last person, which is Steve Martin of Steve Martins working wildlife in CA. Those chimps live in barren cages, outside all year long, no enrichment, no families, nothing to look forward to except to be taken out of a cage and made to do unnatural things. Imagine trying to get your child at the age of 3 to do actions 15-20 times each, and work 12+ hours a day. That's what it's like for these chimps. I know, I have been there, have walked out on many sets. One comes to mind. Trained the chimp for the actions they wanted. We arrived and started shooting. The chimp was suppose to sit at the table and throw food. The script changed and they wanted the chimp to jab himself in the ear over and over again with a fork. I argued with the production crew, did not get the results I wanted, so the chimp and I left.

Please come back and visit and watch Noah's life history.

Can a Chimpanzee play Poker?

Wow, I was shocked to read this this morning! This is my ex-Chimpanzee, Mikey, who now lives at the Little Rock Zoo with his half brother, Louie and other Chimpanzees. I was asked many times how did I teach Mikey to play poker. I never made that known until now. I started out by buying a deck of match cards. I taught Mikey how to pick one up and find the other one that matches and handing them to me. He would get a small goodie for each one he got correct. I then made cards with color on them and we did the same procedure with the color. Next came the suits. Then we put everything he had learned together and applied that to the game of poker. I then taught him to properly pick up his cards and place them face down and make a bet with the key word of "push". I always allowed him to push in as many chips as he wanted to.

Mikey and I traveled all over the US with Mikey playing some of the best poker players. He won most of the time, without the other player allowing him too. We attended a Poker conference in Vegas whereas Mikey was available to play a hand of poker with anyone that wanted too. Again, he beat just about everyone. Mikey enjoyed the attention, meeting new people, and playing with the cards. Mikey did a big game with a well known Poker player and previous winner which they taped. During this taping the poker player was a bit vocally abusive for the cameras only. Mikey was hooked to the chair and I was under the table to keep Mikey from getting too excited with the other player. When I would see his little butt come up off of the chair I would reach up and either give a little tug on his collar which was around his waist or hand him a little treat to keep him focused.

I worked with Mikey on cognitive things from the day I brought him home at about 10 months old, so I fully understand the intelligent level, the cognitive skills, and the emotions that a Chimpanzee has. Mikey was with me for approx 6 years. Then I as some say "saw the light" and knew that Mikey and Louie didn't belong with me, they belonged with a family of their own. I made the most difficult decision of my life, I placed them both at the Little Rock Zoo. (You can watch that video at the top of this blog on a link).

Now I spend hours a day trying to spend the education and awareness that I learned while raising Mikey and Louie. Behind the scenes I still write e-mails to people asking if they can take this Primate or that Primate. I also donate goods and money to the sanctuaries I feel are on the up and up.

I made a horrible mistake by feeding into the Chimpanzee Pet trade, although I don't regret the wonderful experiences that I had, the teaching I was able to do, and the loving bond that we had. I was uneducated at the time. The Internet back then wasn't filled with information on them like it is now. Since a small girl I always just wanted to work with Chimpanzees, to find out their intelligence level, what they could learn and what they could teach me. I suppose that need had never gone away. My advice to others, is that if you want to work with Chimpanzees, go to college, get a degree and then work with them in a place where they still have a family of Chimps.

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A few years back, an online poker site got the idea to enter a chimp at the World Series of Poker. His name was Mikey. We have no idea how Mikey would have performed as organizers ultimately denied him registration.

“He will not be registered, nor will he play,” said Gary Thompson, spokesman for the World Series of Poker at that time. “We are not letting any chimpanzees in. It would be cruel to the chimpanzee and unfair to our players.”

Cruel, we doubt it, unfair to other players, perhaps.
A recent study found that chimpanzees can win at poker.

Why chimps win at poker?

“Chimpanzees apparently can figure out what others are thinking, a mental ability seen nowhere else in the animal kingdom so far except for in humans, scientists find,” Livescience.com reports. “In recent years, research has revealed just how much chimpanzees – humanity’s closest living relatives – have in common with us. They can hunt with spears, play with improvised dolls and mourn their dead. Past research also showed that chimps can figure out what others know. … It was an open question as to whether chimps’ mental capabilities might go beyond knowing what others might know to what others might think. Now scientists find they might possess this advanced mental ability.” They detailed their findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Mother Chimpanzee mourns over her deceased Baby, Do you see this Connie Casey Braun?

I would love to send this video to Connie Casey Braun, the biggest Chimpanzee breeder and stealer of babies. It wouldn't do any good because she probably wouldn't watch this, or if she did she would have no emotions and just wouldn't "GET IT!"

Connie Casey braun of the Missouri Primate Foundation (yeah right a foundation my butt), darts the mothers the minute she gets the baby cleaned up. While the mother is out, laying on their cold concrete floor of a small cage (I have seen them personally), she grabs the baby who is clinging onto their mom and takes them away from mom. The baby is screaming and Connie Casey's only thoughts are $65,000.00 for this little one. Then there are idiots out there, like I was, that are so uneducated that they buy the babies from her.

Just think about the mom Chimpanzee when she wakes up. She has has carried this baby for months, goes through the pain of birth to awaken with no baby. What are her thoughts? Confusion, sadness, depression, solitude, etc. Human mothers think if this happened to you? The advantage we have is that we have the English Language, which makes us capable of asking where our babies are and fighting for them. They have no way of fighting back. When their babies are gone they are gone! So sad, so cruel, so wrong in every way!

The problems like in the few cases of Travis the chimp, and Timmy the chimp will NEVER stop until this woman stops doing what she does. She should go out and have to actually work for a living instead of stealing babies from moms. What kind of monster can do that over and over again for 20+ years!

Video Here