Life at Fauna

Urgent Action Call: Make a Call during National Call-In Week for Chimpanzees

2011-11-29T08:51:00.009-05:00

To: All Fauna supporters in the US

As a supporter of the Fauna Sanctuary, you are well aware of the plight of captive chimpanzees and you have shown how much you care by adopting a chimp or donating to our Lifetime Care Fund or to one of our special projects. In doing so, you have helped give Pepper and everyone else in the Fauna chimp family a new lease on life. As you know, many other chimps have not been so fortunate and are still being exploited in US laboratories, waiting their turn to be released into sanctuary. This will only happen through legislative change and only with your support. Here is how you can help.

National Call-In Week for Chimpanzees in laboratories begins TODAY! Please take a moment to contact (for phone numbers/emails click here) your members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513), which will end painful experiments on chimpanzees and retire them to sanctuary.

If you called or e-mailed before, please be a part of this national push by contacting your legislators again. A few minutes will help Congress understand that their constituents are behind this bill ALL THE WAY.
If your legislator is already a co-sponsor, (legislative map), thank them and ask them to put their leadership behind this bill’s success.
If they are not yet signed on, ask them what information they might need to help them join their bi-partisan colleagues who are already supporting the bill.

Here are talking points:

I am calling to ask Representative X [names appear in this message automatically]/Senator X [names appear in this message automatically to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513) because… [personalize with your reason]
Chimpanzees in laboratories suffer physically and psychologically. It is unethical, inhumane and scientifically unnecessary to continue to use them.
This bill will save millions in federal tax dollars, help reduce the deficit and redirect NIH funding to better research that will truly benefit humans.

Once you’ve called, please record it on our tracking form and let us know how it went. It helps us to know how many calls our supporters made when we visit members of Congress.

We, along with NEAVS/Project R&R, are committed to ending the exploitation of chimpanzees held captive in laboratories. But we can’t do it without your help. Ending chimpanzee experiments in the U.S. will free more than 1,000 individuals from suffering, crushing boredom and living and dying in a laboratory.

Over the last few months, major scientific journals and media outlets such as Scientific American and the New York Times have published opinion pieces declaring that it’s time to ban research on chimpanzees. Scientists from both public and private sectors agree that the use of chimpanzees can end without any negative impact on human health and well-being. So why does it continue?

Join our fight to end the unethical and ineffective use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and testing. Your members of Congress need to know that you care deeply about this issue and that, like millions of others nationwide, you are committed to seeing the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act signed into law!

Please call your members of Congress NOW and urge them to support this historic bill and tell us what their reply was. Please forward this e-alert to your family and friends to make sure that we keep the phones ringing and the emails flowing on Capitol Hill this week.

Do it for yourself and for all the chimpanzees who are counting on us!!

Thank you,

Gloria Grow,
Founder and Director
Fauna Sanctuary

Psychology Today by: Gay Bradshaw

2011-11-17T12:22:00.010-05:00

According to a report in today's New York Times, "Chimps' days in labs may be dwindling." [2] Should Congress pass the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011 [3], this may indeed be true. The legislation bans invasive research on all great apes, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, gibbons, and orangutans.

Imagine there's no heaven

For those currently incarcerated and subjected to invasive research, it is easy to imagine that there is no heaven. The Act defines ‘invasive research' as "any research that may cause death, injury, pain, distress, fear, or trauma to a great ape, including [3]:

Photo: Jeannie at LEMSIP

Visit the following link for the full article:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bear-in-mind/201111/imagine-0

Chimps’ Days in Labs May Be Dwindling

2011-11-17T12:02:00.010-05:00

Marlon, a 10-year-old chimpanzee at the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana.

By JAMES GORMAN

Published: November 14, 2011

NEW IBERIA, La. — In a dome-shaped outdoor cage, a dozen chimpanzees are hooting. The hair on their shoulders sticks straight up. “That’s piloerection,” a sign of emotional arousal, says Dr. Dana Hasselschwert, head of veterinary sciences at the New Iberia Research Center. She tells a visitor to keep his distance. The chimps tend to throw pebbles — or worse — when they get excited.

This week: Beyond planet Earth, taking care of our closest relatives, and when your brain just won’t deliver.

The Science Times

Chimps’ similarity to humans makes them valuable for research, and at the same time inspires intense sympathy. To research scientists, they may look like the best chance to cure terrible diseases. But to many other people, they look like relatives behind bars.

Biomedical research on chimps helped produce a vaccine for hepatitis B, and is aimed at one for hepatitis C, which infects 170 million people worldwide, but there has long been an outcry against the research as cruel and unnecessary. Now, because of a major push by advocacy organizations, a decision to stop such research in the United States could come within a year. As it is, the United States is one of only two countries that conduct invasive research on chimpanzees. The other is the central African nation of Gabon.

“This is a very different moment than ever before,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. “Now is the time to get these chimps out of invasive research and out of the labs.”

John VandeBerg, director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, one of six labs that house chimpanzees, agreed that this is “a crucial moment.” Any of several efforts by opponents “could be the cause of a halt in all medical research with chimpanzees,” he said.

The Humane Society of the United States and other groups pushed the National Institutes of Health to commission a report on the usefulness of chimps in research, due this year. The society also joined with the Jane Goodall Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society and others to petition the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to declare captive chimps endangered, as wild chimps already are, giving them new protections. A decision is due by next September.

In addition, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, now in Congress, would ban invasive research on all great apes (including bonobos, gorillas and orangutans). Representative Roscoe Bartlett, a Maryland Republican who is one of the bill’s sponsors, says it would save taxpayers $30 million a year spent on chimpanzees owned by the government.

Mr. Pacelle says that invasive research on chimpanzees is expensive, that there are alternatives and that chimps in research studies suffer painful procedures and isolation. “This is an endangered species that is closer than any other species genetically,” he said. “And we shouldn’t abuse our power.”

Dr. VandeBerg, on the other hand, says that stopping research with chimps would be a threat to human lives.

“Any reduction in the rate of development of drugs for these diseases will mean hundreds of thousands of people, really millions of people, dying because it would be years of delay,” he said.

If human lives can be saved, Dr. VandeBerg said, “it would be grossly unethical not to do research” on chimpanzees.

There are 1,000 chimps housed in research facilities in the United States, including at the New Iberia Research Center. The center, part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, occupies 100 acres in the heart of Cajun country about 130 miles west of New Orleans. It houses 360 chimpanzees, 240 of which belong to the university and 120 to the N.I.H., and more than 6,000 other primates, mostly rhesus macaque monkeys. It has faced accusations of chimp mistreatment in the past, and some violations of animal care standards were found, and corrected, according to Department of Agriculture inspections. The latest, in July, found some outdated drugs for the animals.

On a recent visit, some of the chimpanzees were in 34-foot-diameter geodesic domes, some in smaller outdoor cages, and some, less than 10 at that time, said Dr. Thomas J. Rowell, the director of the center, were in active studies and held in indoor cages about 6 feet by 5 feet and 7 feet high, one chimp per cage. * The physical procedures involved in the studies, he said, involved injections, blood samples and liver biopsies, the latter done under sedation.

Many studies last only a couple of days, Dr. Rowell said, but a few are longer. A study near completion had been going on for four months. He passionately defended the center’s treatment of chimps, emphasizing the veterinary care and efforts to enrich the chimps’ lives with more interesting environments.

Using captive chimpanzees for research in this country dates to the 1920s, when Robert Yerkes, a Yale psychology professor, began to bring them into the country. During the 1950s, the Air Force began to breed chimps for the space program, starting with 65 caught in the wild. Chimps were also bred for AIDS research in the 1980s, which met a dead end. By the mid-1970s, support for preservation of threatened species had grown, and the importing of wild-caught chimps was prohibited. In 2000, a federal law was passed requiring the government to provide for retirement of chimps it owned after their use in experiments was over, and Chimp Haven opened near Shreveport, La., to care for these chimps and others.

It was an attempt to bring some semiretired chimps at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico back into the research pipeline that prompted part of the recent surge of opposition. The N.I.H. wanted to move about 200 chimps it owned from Alamogordo to the San Antonio center, which is part of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. The Humane Society lobbied to prevent the move, and the N.I.H. relented, asking the Institute of Medicine, an advisory board, for the report on chimps in experimentation this year.

Chimp Haven, one potential retirement destination, now has 132 chimps on 200 acres of pine woods. Chimps live in a variety of cages and enclosures, including concrete-walled play yards of about a quarter of an acre, open to the sky, and two forested habitats, one four acres and the other five, bounded by a moat and fences. But chimps at research centers might not move at all, even if research is stopped. They might simply stay where they are, exempt from invasive studies.

Whatever the decision, both researchers and advocates know that chimps are only one tiny piece of animal research, one part of a bigger debate.

Kathleen Conlee, senior director for animal research issues at the Humane Society, says that the current discussion about chimps points the way to the future. “This,” she said, “is the kind of rigorous analysis we should be applying to all animal research.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 14, 2011

A previous version of this article gave an incomplete name for a bill now in Congress. The bill is called the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011.

*The attached photo shows one of the cages the rescued chimps (now at the Fauna Sanctuary) lived in for years while enduring painful experiments. The cages (including the floors) were made of metal bars; they were hauled up to the ceiling each day where they then lived in isolation-- no enrichment or direct contact with any other chimps (though in the wild they live in extended families).

** This year’s film ” Project Nim” shows the quality of the lives of some of the scientists doing these experiments.

Wildlife at Fauna

2011-11-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Early morning at Fauna. Our front pasture full of wild Canada Geese.

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les ch

2011-11-09T15:05:00.001-05:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..

Christophier Diaz, Taryn Graham, Lise Brais, Mara ScomParin, Tanya McAleer, alise Thibault, Jessica Tremblay, Celine Lavallee, Dawna Killen-Courtney, Shainty Rant, Nathalie Martel

Maya’s first days on the islands / Premiers pas de Maya sur les îles

2011-11-09T12:01:00.000-05:00

Maya has been at Fauna for four years now and we are so happy to finally see her out on the islands. She just loves being outside now and has spent a lot of time on the different islands throughout the entire summer.

When Maya first arrived, she was the last of her group to venture out. The first thing she did was to sit on a wooden structure close to the perimeter fencing separating Billy Jo’s Island from Donna Rae’s Island. Maya is a chimp’s chimp, which means she loves to have new friends. She seemed quite interested in the chimps who were on the neighbouring island but she had not been introduced to them yet and we were not sure whether she would try to go visit them on the other island. With some coaxing, she eventually made it in and we decided to wait until she had made more friends and until we felt secure enough to try again.

That day came this past May, when Maya ventured out on the island with Binky and Spock as if she had always been out. This time again, she went to sit close to the fence line between the islands but only to observe her other island neighbours.

Premiers pas de Maya sur les îles

Depuis quatre ans que Maya vivait parmi nous, on ne l’avait pas encore convaincue de s’aventurer sur les îles. Mais, cette année, nous avons enfin eu le plaisir de la voir s’y promener tout au long de l’été.

À son arrivée au sanctuaire, Maya a été la dernière de son groupe à oser sortir. La première fois qu’elle est sortie, elle s’est tout d’abord installée sur une des structures en bois, près de la clôture qui sépare l’île de Billy Jo de celle de Donna Rae. Comme Maya est extrêmement attachée à ses congénères, elle s’est tout de suite intéressée aux chimpanzés qui se trouvaient sur les îles avoisinantes, sans pour autant oser aller les rejoindre. Nous avons donc préféré attendre qu’elle se soit familiarisée avec tout le monde avant de tenter l’expérience de nouveau.

Ce jour-là est venu en mai dernier, alors que Maya s’est aventurée sur l’île en compagnie de Binky et de Spock, comme si c’était la choise la plus naturelle au monde. Fidèle à son habitude, elle s’est assise près de la clôture pour observer ses voisins des autres îles.

Theo our Olive Baboon / Notre babouin Theo

2011-11-08T12:18:00.001-05:00

Room Enrichment after cleaning / Les activités d’enrichissement après le nettoyage

Baboons and other Monkeys do not like direct eye contact, it is perceived as a threat.Here Theo caught us looking at him, that is the reason for the wide eye direct look. He is challenging us , therefore we simply shift our eyes to another location and he is fine and continues on with his game. / Les babouins et les autres singes se sentent menacés lorsqu’on les regarde droit dans les yeux. Quand Theo nous surprend à le regarder directement, il nous lance un regard de défi, les yeux grands ouverts. Dès que nous détournons notre regard, il reprend ses activités.

Having fun totally trashing his new grass, looking for bugs we presume. / Il s’amuse à démolir la pelouse nouvellement installée. Peut-être qu’il y recherche des insectes?
Where are the bugs? / Où sont donc les insectes?
A new place to sit and rest, as well as, showing us his amazing teeth / Un nouvel endroit pour s’asseoir… et nous faire voir ses crocs impressionnants.

From the Chimp House

2011-11-05T12:25:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of the amazing theme days that Natasha has been putting together these past months..

Voici quelques photos des merveilleuses journées thématiques organisées par Natasha ces derniers mois.

Pool Shark Party /les requins

Space Day / Journée de l’exploration spatiale

Jethro's Birthday "All wrapped up theme" / Pour l’anniversaire de Jethro, une journée «emballante«

Barbie Theme Day with treats /La journée de la poupée Barbie

Our Precious Grub at the Center for Great Apes

2011-10-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Losing one of our great ape residents is the hardest and saddest part of our work in providing sanctuary care for them. This week, our hearts are breaking with the loss of our first chimpanzee resident at the Center for Great Apes - our precious Grub.

Grub was the most wonderful chimpanzee and had many fans and friends, both chimp and human. He passed Tuesday in my arms after a sudden illness that was advanced and terminal. He was 20 years old.

While I know that Grub is not suffering and is out of pain now, my grief comes from a sense of great loss in not having him physically in our lives anymore. But I realize that all the wonderful qualities and intelligence expressed by Grub...along with the joy and sweetness he brought to others... are always in our thoughts and memories and did not pass away with him.

Today, still in the blur of tears and sadness, I want to remember the happiest part of Grub's life and the things that made Grub such a special and dear fellow.

Grub has been in my care since he was 12 weeks old, when he arrived at a Miami tourist attraction in 1991 where I was already volunteering to care for infant orangutan Pongo. As I helped to take care of several infant apes there, I became more aware of issues around the retirement of hand-raised apes used in entertainment and also as pets. It was Pongo and Grub (and concern for their future) who provided the impetus to start a sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees coming out of these situations.

It is because of Grub that over 30 chimpanzees have had a home at our sanctuary over the past 18 years.

Grub grew up with Kenya (now 18), Noelle (17) and Toddy (39). Two years ago, former Hollywood performer Mowgli (12) joined this group and became Grub's best male friend. Grub has lived and played with other chimpanzees here too - Brooks, Angel, Kodua and just recently, Chipper. But, Noelle and Grub had a special bond, and they spent many hours in play and grooming sessions.

His most amazing relationship was with our young handicapped chimpanzee, Knuckles, who arrived at the Center nearly 10 years ago when he was two years old. Knuckles had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and had difficulty walking. Grub, Kenya and Noelle all accepted Knuckles into their group for limited playtimes. Grub was the most gentle with him and seemed to be fully aware of his limitations and specialness. However, when Mowgli joined the group, he was not so gentle with Knuckles and would playfully try to poke him or pull Knuckles' hair through the wire mess when Knuckles visited Grub's group. But, Grub would keep an eye on Mowgli, and if he saw that Mowgli was getting to rambunctious with Knuckles, Grub would either gently put his hand on Mowgli's arm to stop him...or give him a stern eye to warn Mowgli not to touch Knuckles.

Grub's gentle nature was also evident in his love of dogs. As a youngster, Grub grew up around several dogs that lived at the tourist attraction. He giggled in games of chase with the dogs and would be "over the moon" when they licked his face! As he grew in strength, we had to limit his direct contact for the safety of the dogs. Grub had a golden retriever friend in Wauchula (Joe) who was the happy recipient of monkey chow biscuits that Grub would toss to him... and then play "chase" as Joe ran around the outside of Grub's habitat.

While Grub was a well-known chimpanzee artist (once featured on the NBC Today Show) and loved to paint, the most striking activity that most people will remember him for was his penchant for mask-making. He learned to make masks when a volunteer in Miami, made one for him from a paper plate when he was only three years old. He didn't want to wear it...he wanted her to put it on. From that one time, watching the volunteer tear out eye holes, he began to experiment with paper bags, cereal boxes, wrapping paper...and when he couldn't find paper in his habitat, he would pick up fallen leaves and m ake tiny masks from those. His joy seemed to be in presenting these "Grub-masks" to visitors at the Center and watching them wear the masks. In fact, he made a beautiful mask from a red cereal box for Jane Goodall when she visited him in 2005. I will miss those special gifts from Grubby.

In mourning the loss of Grub, we also must celebrate his life and continue to provide a home with quality care for the other 43 chimpanzees and orangutans who are here at the Center now...in large part because of Grub.

I am grateful to all the caregivers, staff, board members, and volunteers who have helped provide Grub and his chimpanzee family with a happy life at the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula.

I am also very thankful for all our members and supporters who help make this all possible each year for EVERY great ape at the sanctuary.

With love and in memory of our dearest Grub,

If you would like to make a contribution in memory of Grub, please click here.

Your donation will help continue the care for his chimp family and orangutan friends

and is greatly appreciated.

http://www.centerforgreatapes.org/residents-details.aspx?id=18

Grub – losing a friend - By Gloria Grow

2011-10-14T11:03:00.007-04:00

On October 6th I learned of the death of a very dear and special friend, and one of the most remarkable chimpanzees I have ever known. Not only was he kind, sincere, intelligent and oh so very loving, he made us all feel he was our best friend. He had the ability to make you feel special, welcomed, and appreciated, so much like his human Mom, Patti. In so many ways he was just like her, and the world will never be the same without him.

I cannot even begin to imagine what this means to Patti, he was like a son to her and the loss will be great. So many of us in this work have lost amazing chimpanzees in our lives, and we have grieved deeply, in some cases after knowing them for just a short while. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain of losing someone you raised from the time they were a baby, as Grub was. He was a family member, like son, a deep and powerful bond.

I don’t even know what a day in the life of everyone at Center for Great Apes will be like for a long time. Grub was loved and cherished by all around him, Pongo, and Christopher who were raised with him, and to think of what Noelle, Kenya , Toddy, Mowgli the brother he was so recently reunited with, and dear Knuckles will go through is just so painful. It will take a strong group of people to try to console and comfort each other, to help each other go through the grieving process, and to continue to move forward for the living.

Patti wrote that to know Grub is without pain now is most important, and for him surely this is a peaceful and wonderful place, but for those left, it will be awhile before his presence will not be missed.

Dearest Patti, my heart breaks for you, for them and for everyone who knew and loved Grub. He was a true Angel, and he will be deeply missed.

Deepest condolences to my dear friend Patti, all the wonderful caring staff at The Center for Great Apes, and especially to Grub’s immediate chimpanzee family.

“Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” -

Good bye dear friend,
Gloria

Amazing Volunteers

2011-10-13T11:56:00.000-04:00

These past months we have been blessed with an amazing volunteer Isabel Martin, Isabel lives in Toronto and has been studying in Anthropology with a focus on primatology. She came to Fauna with great references from two other sanctuaries she had volunteered at. The first was the Koko Foundation in 2009 http://www.koko.org/foundation/ and CHCI in 2010 http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/ . Isabel has been helping out with various jobs here at Fauna. Most of her time has been spent helping to make wonderful enrichment for the chimps..Here are some fun things that she has been hard at work putting together. More to come...

Thank You Isabel!

Ces derniers mois, nous avons eu la chance d’avoir parmi nous une bénévole hors du commun, Isabel Martin. Originaire de Toronto et diplômée en anthropologie, avec une spécialisation en primatologie, elle nous a été chaudement recommandée par deux sanctuaires où elle a œuvré, soit la Fondation Koko en 2009 (http://www.koko.org/foundation/) et le CHCI (Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute) en 2010 (http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/). Pendant son séjour à la Fondation Fauna, elle a contribué à de nombreuses activités, en particulier aux activités d’enrichissement. Voici quelques-unes de ses initiatives. À suivre…

Merci, Isabel!

Canada Day

Cook Out at the chimp house

Insect Garden Party

A note from Isabel:

My name is Isabel and I would like to share with you the incredible experience I have had being a summer volunteer here at Fauna. Having spent the previous two summers volunteering at other primate sanctuaries, I thought I knew what was in store for me, but boy was I surprised! Although feeling intrepid at first, everyone here greeted me warmly and made me feel part of the Fauna family. Especially at the chimp house where I met twelve of the most beautiful and charming chimps on this planet. Each one has a big personality--like Toby’s soft demeanour, Yoko’s readiness, Petra’s budda-like quiet presence, and Rachel’s grace--and meeting them underscored for me how important it is that we continue to create a better world for all chimps who are suffering in labs, circuses, and road-side zoos. We have to make that day today and not wait for tomorrow.

Although I initially spent a lot of time working on the farm (I never knew how much I loved goats!) and at the monkey house where I was always first greeted with a hello by Darla, the work at the chimp house exercised my skill set in a very good way. I was put on smoothie patrol, coming up with new and tasty smoothie ideas for the chimps, who always showed up like clockwork when smoothie time rolled around. We experimented using some odd combinations to be sure (tomato, spinach and apple anyone?), so naturally there were some misses. But happiness reigned in my heart when there were hits. One particularly good one to try and currently in season is the ABC smoothie (AvocadoBasilCorn). Unusually good and chimp-approved! Here it is: In a blender add one ripe avocado, corn niblets from one ear of corn, 1 cup of frozen orange segments,1small lemon piece, 1 1/2 frozen bananas, 6-7 basil leaves, 1 cup of soy and add some water to thin out. Invite two friends to join you because this recipe makes 3 smoothies. Enjoy!

Also, one of the great honours I had was to work with Tasha, an animal-care worker, on weekly enrichment theme ideas for the chimps who are a demanding but appreciative audience. Some of the things they enjoyed this summer were our mardi-gras hoops, the jello-enhanced pool sharks and the metre-long paper hotdog with all the real fixins as well as the accompanying food enrichment using all of their favourites: green mango salad, tapioca pudding parfaits, honeyed popcorn and frozen jello pops. The food was always a hit!

It’s always incredibly hard to leave when the summer is over. It just doesn’t seem fair-time has allowed bonds to grow, you fall in love with the big apes, and you hope that they have come to like you too. Chimps are ironically the best teachers on how to be human, showing us that all emotions are ok, no judgments, just express what you’re feeling and then move on (or go eat!). Everything they feel is BIG and urgent, but then it passes and then they go lie down, take a walk, hang out with each other, groom one another or interact with their human friends. Although each one has had an incredibly difficult, trying life before Fauna, they laugh, love and play because that is what a day is made for. They are my kind of people.

Une Note de Isabel:

Bonjour, je m’appelle Isabel et j’aimerais partager avec vous l’expérience extraordinaire que j’ai vécue comme stagiaire bénévole à la Fondation Fauna au cours de l’été qui s’achève. Ayant passé les deux étés précédents comme bénévole dans des sanctuaires pour primates, je croyais savoir à quoi m’attendre, mais quelle surprise! Je me sentais un peu intimidée au départ, mais les gens ont été tellement accueillants à mon égard, comme si je faisais partie de la famille. À la maison des chimpanzés, j’ai fait la connaissance de douze des plus magnifiques et adorables chimpanzés de la planète. Chacun et chacune d’entre eux a son tempérament bien particulier. Toby est tout en douceur, Yoko est prêt à tout, Petra a la présence apaisante d’un bouddha et Rachel possède une grâce hors du commun. À les côtoyer, j’ai compris à quel point il importe de poursuivre nos efforts en faveur de tous ces chimpanzés qui mènent une existence misérable dans des laboratoires, des cirques ou des jardins zoologiques. Nous devons le faire avant qu’il ne soit trop tard.

Au début, j’ai surtout travaillé à la ferme, où je me suis découvert une affinité particulière pour les chèvres, et à la maison des petits singes, où Darla m’accueillait chaque jour. Plus tard, à la maison des chimpanzés, on m’a affectée à la brigade des «smoothies», ces délicieux breuvages nourrissants dont raffolent les chimpanzés. J’ai mis à l’essai plusieurs nouvelles recettes qu’ils ne se faisaient pas prier de déguster, l’heure venue. Une combinaison tomate, épinards et pommes? Pourquoi pas? Même si certains mélanges ont eu moins de succès que d’autres, j’étais ravie chaque fois qu’une de mes innovations trouvait preneur. Une des réussites de la saison actuelle est composée d’avocats, de basilique et de maïs et porte le sceau d’approbation des chimpanzés. En voici la recette :

Dans un mélangeur, incorporer un avocat mûr, les grains d’un épi de maïs, une tasse de quartiers d’orange congelés, un petit morceau de citron, une banane et demie, congelée, 6 ou 7 feuilles de basilic, une tasse de lait de soya et un peu d’eau pour éclaircir le tout. Cette recette donne trois portions. Bon appétit!

J’ai eu aussi beaucoup de plaisir à travailler avec Tasha, qui s’occupe des activités d’enrichissement hebdomadaires pour les chimpanzés, une clientèle plutôt exigeante, mais qui sait apprécier ce qu’on lui offre. Ils ont bien rigolé avec les anneaux de mardi-gras, les requins au jello et les hot-dogs en papier tout garnis, d’un mètre de long, sans compter leur enrichissement préféré- les gâteries dont ils raffolent : salade de mangue verte, parfaits au tapioca, maïs soufflé au miel et sucettes glacées à la gélatine.

C’est extrêmement difficile de partir à la fin de l’été, après s’être épris de ces grands singes, qui parfois, même, nous le rendent un peu. Chose surprenante, les chimpanzés sont passés maîtres dans l’art d’exprimer ses émotions. Avec eux, tout s’exprime, sans jugement, dans l’instant présent, puis on passe à autre chose- ou alors, on va grignoter quelque chose. Tout ce qu’ils ressentent est important, tout de suite. Et puis, ça passe et ils vont faire la sieste, ou une promenade, ou rejoindre leurs amis, se faire la toilette, peu importe. Même si tous ont eu une vie douloureuse avant leur arrivée au sanctuaire, ils savent encore rire, aimer et s’amuser, un jour à la fois. Quelle leçon de vie!

Dale Hepburn has been a Fauna volunteer for two years now. Her very first visit was organized by her son Jeff as a surprise in April of last year, Dale had no idea she was coming to see the chimps and visit the sanctuary so you can imagine her surprise. Dale then spent the following months buying and receiving donations of items for the chimps and brought a similar amount of gifts on her very first volunteer day in June 2010. Here are some of the great gifts Dale brought along on this trip. We always wonder how she manages to fit it all in her car, but she does.

Thank you Dale!

Dale Hepburn nous a rendu visite pour la deuxième année de suite. En avril dernier, son fils Jeff avait voulu la surprendre en organisant pour elle une visite du sanctuaire qui l’avait enchantée. Par la suite, Dale s’est affairée à acheter et à recueillir de nombreux dons d’articles pour les chimpanzés, qu’elle nous a rapportés lorsqu’elle est revenue pour une semaine complète de bénévolat, au mois de juin. Cette année, elle récidivait! Voici quelques-uns des cadeaux qu’elle a rapportés. Nous nous demandons bien comment elle réussit à tout faire entrer dans sa voiture…

Merci, Dale!

Fauna on the Montreal Dog Blog by Nat Lauzon

2011-10-07T14:19:00.000-04:00

Nat Lauzon formerly from Mix 96 came by this past August to interview Gloria and write a story for her blog called "Montreal Dog Blog"

Her is her story entitled "This one's for you Pepper!"

As you may recall, several blogs ago I wrote about Cruelty-Free Beauty and how we should all be aware that animal testing exists, and that it all comes down to consumer choices – there are many products today that don’t test on animals, and it’s up to all of us to make better and more ethical choices if we want the future of research to change and not involve animal testing!

After I wrote this blog, I had the chance to go with MDB creator Nat Lauzon to visit the Fauna Foundation. Our mission was to meet the Fauna Team, get to know the chimps and what they have been through, learn what it takes to keep the Fauna thriving, and of course..to deliver lots and lots of toys to the chimps who call Fauna home. I know that neither one of us will forget that day and all we learned from the experience.

Our road trip started early. First stop-to pick up all the goodies. Luckily, Natalie Gore, Owner and Founder of Bailey Blu in NDG, allowed us to advertise her store as the drop-off spot for all the toys. Thanks to Natalie and to everyone who donated toys and other needed items. We had 6 bags, overflowing with rattles, videos, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, little tyke toys and so much more – even a couple of hula hoops and 48 bananas I picked up along the way…:)

Click on the link below for the full article
http://www.montrealdogblog.com/9409/pepper/

A special message from Gloria

The Montreal Dog Blog’s Shelly and Nat

Visitors to Fauna are always a delight and this summer was no exception. This summer we had the opportunity to spend time with some of our cherished supporters, new and long time volunteers, and first time visitors. Among the new supporters we found two special people, we now call friends. I had the pleasure of meeting Shelly Elsliger and Nat Lauzon when they came for the first time in July.

Nat is well known for her years as being a radio host in Montreal for Mix 96 (now Virgin Radio). A lot of Montrealers have grown up listening to Nat. She has always been a friend to animals and has been involved in animal welfare issues in and around the area. Unfortunately her voice can no longer be heard daily as she recently left Virgin Radio to concentrate on her animal projects and voice work.

Shelly is a career advisor at Concordia University in Montreal and also uses her power of words as a blogger. She lends her expertise to cover not only animal topics, but likes to concentrate on sustainable living, educating readers on cruelty free product shopping. Both her and Nat are the main reasons that the Montreal Dog Blog is so successful today.

They have produced an amazing and much needed Blog that is specific to Montreal and addresses many of the questions and concerns people living with companion animals have. It is a concise and accurate tool for anyone who cares about animals.

I think the Blog is a wonderful resource and I was delighted to hear of its popularity and success. There is such a need for this information, and I was very interested in meeting the people behind the Blog.

They had contacted us after learning about our work and the chimps to ask if there was anything they could do to help. A sanctuary like ours is always in need of something, so naturally we do have a very long list of items on our wish list, and that seemed like the perfect place to start. They spread the word on their blog about Fauna, asking people to donate what they could from our wish list of items we would like for the chimps, and they had a wonderful response.

A few weeks later, Shelly and Nat were delivering a van full of goodies to Fauna, and it was like Christmas in July.

I met Shelly and Nat at the office, saw all the wonderful gifts they brought, and then off we went to the chimp house so they could meet our amazing residents. When we arrived at the gate, there to greet us were Pepper and Sue Ellen. They were sitting up high in the new section of sky walk (an elevated section of caging), a wonderful location right at the front gate, with a perfect view of everyone who comes to the chimp house or passes by in a day. With Fauna’s 15 or so employees, volunteers and contract workers there is an awful lot to see in a day, and it is wonderful to see that Pepper and Sue want to be a part of the action, it helps pass the long days and gives them so much to look forward too, never knowing what wonderful surprises we have in store for them. Today’s surprise would be two special new friends. I would have the chance to introduce Nat and Shelly to our new socialite Miss Pepper and her best friend Sue Ellen. For all the years Pepper hid in the back of the chimp house or hid up high in the building out of sight, these past few months have shown us a new and very exciting side of Pepper. A side of her we didn’t really know about.

I don’t know what happened exactly, or why she came out of hiding- all I do know is that it has been a remarkable breakthrough for this very special soul. From terrified, aloof, shy and introverted Pepper to the outgoing, outspoken super social Miss Pepper- the transformation has been simply magical. When we opened the gate Pepper just greeted us with the warmest welcome, I know she was curious to see the cast I had on my leg, and I am sure that was part of the excitement as well as the site of new people.

Pepper was so excited, we hadn’t seen each other for a few days after my accident, so to have a nice visit was really important. I knew Pepper would want to see why I had a cast on my foot, and to see for herself what was up. She is very compassionate and concerned about others so for her to need to see was very special and important to her and to me. I had the choice of going up the stairs to be close to her and leave my guests behind, or invite my guests to come up with me. Pepper did not appear to be stressed at all by the guests and was interacting right away with them, looking them in the eye, greeting them with her gestures and in general just interested in a visit with me, my cast and new people. She wasn’t too bothered at all by the visitors, and I knew how important it was to Pepper to see me close up after such a time away from her, and it didn’t feel right to stay so far away and not interact with her at this time. I decided to invite my guests to follow me up the stairs to the mezzanine level, explaining to them what they had to do, and how they should react in this area where visitors are not usually able to go because it is more dangerous and stressful for the chimps. There is always caging and lots of bars between the chimps and the humans, but it can and is very dangerous if you are not careful, and I trusted that my guests would pay close attention to everything we discussed earlier about safety.

Pepper was there, Sue Ellen right beside her and Chance was off in the background. I could see right away that Shelly and Nat were not sure what to do or how to act, but within minutes Pepper and Sue showed them. It is amazing to meet a chimpanzee in person, and to feel the energy that is exchanged between them and us. I know how impressive it is and I could see that my guests were feeling it too. When Pepper responded to my comments and questions, when she went to bring over the empty water bottle asking for something to drink, how she passed me the cup I asked her for, we were in a conversation and to see that is rather impressive and overwhelming. I know it was for me the first time I met chimpanzees at CHCI, many years ago, and I can only imagine what my visitors were feeling.

We sat for more than 20 minutes admiring Pepper, chatting with her and talking about her life in the lab and her life at Fauna. I could see that Pepper had two new admirers, and I was so happy for her that she had been recognized as the truly amazing soul she is.

Nat and Shelly were clearly moved by the whole experience and it made me feel very much at ease with them, knowing they understood how special this moment was. We left Pepper and Sue Ellen after a lovely visit with them. We went for a little walk to see who else might be outside before going into the building, and as we went around the corner heading towards Billy’s Island we noticed we had two followers, there they were again, Pepper and Sue Ellen following us to see where we were going next. They had gone into the building, up two sets of stairs, crossed over the tunnel, down another ladder into a night room, then out into the sky walk heading towards the Island. It was a long walk for them, but they really wanted to stay with us.

I knew they must be completely comfortable, because they wanted to continue the visit. We were delighted to see them again, and knowing that Pepper had chosen to spend time with these enlightened guests was lovely. They were definitely worth Pepper’s time, and that was obvious.

Pepper is a wonderful judge of character and would never participate in a visit if she did not want too. Pepper sat looking at us then requested my hand for grooming. While she was grooming me she kept looking at Nat and Shelly and I knew she was curious about them and would probably like to engage in a grooming session, a very important social activity for a chimpanzee. It is difficult for me to just allow a chimpanzee to touch a human through the bars, the risk is high and can be extremely dangerous.

So, I knew what Pepper wanted, but I was processing. It is always a risk, and not something I would do just because a human wanted an interaction with a chimp. I would do it if the individual chimpanzee was inviting the interaction maybe. Well, it was as though she was reading my thoughts, and helping me make the decision. Pepper turned her back to us, a clear and obvious invitation, and usually a safe interaction, she looked over her shoulder at me. I respected her invitation and touched her back, then she glanced towards Shelly and Nat, that was it, they had been invited to groom her. Indicating that she was the one in control, and she was making the decision. I could never have asked her to do that, and I wouldn’t ever ask her to allow someone to groom her, and she wouldn’t do it anyway even if I did ask her too.

It was lovely to see Pepper so at ease and feel comfortable enough with them to invite and initiate contact. My darling Pepper, after 14 years here at Fauna, coming out of her secret world, a world of loneliness and fear is truly heartwarming.

She didn’t stay long- but it didn’t take long for her to not only allow someone to touch her- but for her to touch someone in the most remarkable way.

Pepper has magical powers, she can melt your heart, open your eyes, and fill you with so much love your heart can barely stand it. That is how we feel around her.

Thank you Shelly and Nat, for taking the time to spread the work about Fauna and our mission. We need friends like you and we hope you can be there for the chimps for a long time.

The chimp’s wish list is a long one, and never a day goes by where we aren’t trying to find another new way to help them stay active, emotionally healthy and stimulated by their environment. We will always need you in our lives to help us make their lives in captivity better.

WINDOWS WITHOUT BARS FOR THE CHIMPS

2011-10-07T13:40:00.000-04:00

We have joined the Aviva Community Fund Competition in order to replace the windows in the chimphouse and finally remove all the bars the are blocking the wonderful views for the chimps. Please pass this on to anyone and everyone and make sure you go vote every day starting at noon today!

http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11543

Thanks for all your continued support.

Project R&R Action alert

2011-10-07T12:14:00.002-04:00

Captive Chimpanzees Require “Endangered” Status

NEAVS, along with other organizations, filed a petition spearheaded by HSUS with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) requesting that the agency “uplist” the status of captive chimpanzees from threatened to endangered. FWS agreed to review the request: “Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing all chimpanzees as endangered may be warranted.”

The Endangered Species Act protects wildlife and promotes conservation, but captive chimpanzees who are only listed as threatened are deprived of protections afforded their free-living kin, who are listed as endangered. Captive U.S. chimpanzees are used in entertainment, invasive research, and are kept as exotic pets.

The petition states, "It is clear that exploitation of this species for biomedical purposes has not positively benefitted chimpanzees in captivity or in the wild…and undermines chimpanzee conservation." The petition further argues that this unusual split listing is "scientifically unjustifiable."

Click on the following link for the full Alert:

http://my.neavs.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=3541.0

Fauna E-News Available Now! / Bulletin de Nouvelles !

2011-10-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

Message From Gloria

Hello everyone,

With summer over and fall just around the corner, we look back and feel blessed for the time spent with those we love. We have had our fair share of losses here at Fauna. Many of them were seniors whose lives have come to a natural end, such as our Terrific Turkey Agnes. But some of those losses were unexpected, which is always so difficult for all of us.

Click on the following link for the full e-news:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs025/1103523274568/archive/1105684009928.html

Message de Gloria

Bonjour à tous,

Avec un autre été qui s'achève et l'automne à nos portes, nous sommes reconnaissants du temps qui nous est accordé auprès de tous ceux qui nous sont chers. Cette année encore, nous avons dû composer avec la perte de plusieurs résidents du sanctuaire. Certains d'entre eux étaient très avancés en âge, comme notre dindon Agnès, alors que d'autres départs nous ont pris tout à fait par surprise, ce qui rend toujours les choses plus difficiles à accepter.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs025/1103523274568/archive/1107891860269.html

Bonjour à tous,

Avec un autre été qui s'achève et l'automne à nos portes, nous sommes reconnaissants du temps qui nous est accordé auprès de tous ceux qui nous sont chers. Cette année encore, nous avons dû composer avec la perte de plusieurs résidents du sanctuaire. Certains d'entre eux étaient très avancés en âge, comme notre dindon Agnès, alors que d'autres départs nous ont pris tout à fait par surprise, ce qui rend toujours les choses plus difficiles à accepter.

The Chimps Of Fauna Sanctuary book by Andrew Westoll

2011-10-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

By buying the book through our amazon.ca link below, 4% of the sales will go to the Fauna chimps. Please tell your friends about this opportunity to help Fauna.

For more ways to help visit the HOW TO HELP page. http://www.faunafoundation.org/html/donate.html

For more information on what is new at Fauna visit the NEWS AND MEDIA section. http://www.faunafoundation.org/html/news_events.html

Cliquez sur le lien du site Amazone.ca pour acheter le livre d'Andrew Westoll et 4% du produit de la vente sera versé à la Fondation Fauna. Faites-le savoir à toutes vos connaissances.

Pour contribuer autrement, consultez l'onglet http://www.faunafoundation.org/html/donate.html.

Pour les plus récentes nouvelles au sujet de la Fondation, consultez l'onglet http://www.faunafoundation.org/html/news_events.html

Urge the Government to Protect Captive Chimpanzees

2011-10-01T11:33:00.000-04:00

The Endangered Species Act is meant to protect wildlife and promote conservation, but current regulations deprive captive chimpanzees in the U.S. of protections normally afforded to threatened and endangered species. As a result they are frequently used in entertainment, invasive experiments, and kept as exotic pets. Studies have shown that using captive chimpanzees in these ways contributes to the mistaken belief that chimpanzees are not in danger of becoming extinct in the wild, which contributes to their decline.

The Humane Society of the United States, along with other conservation and animal protection organizations, filed a legal petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking the agency to list all chimpanzees as "endangered," which would help protect captive chimpanzees in the U.S. The agency is soliciting public comment on this issue. It's very important that they hear from you!

TAKE ACTION

Please contact the Fish and Wildlife Service and ask them to recognize captive chimpanzees as an endangered species. Please note that your comments will be available for public viewing. Click here for more information.

Click on the link below for full information and to Sign Petition

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5176

NEWS RELEASE BUAV CALLS FOR AN END TO MONKEY SLAUGHTER ON MAURITIUS

2011-09-30T15:02:00.003-04:00

The BUAV is calling for an end to plans for the slaughter of thousands
of monkeys by Noveprim, one of the main primate dealers on Mauritius and
a company which is 47% owned by Covance UK, an animal testing facility
in the UK. The mass slaughter was revealed following a tip-off received
by the BUAV and reported in the UK Sunday Express Newspaper:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/271963/Horror-of-monkey-cull-on-tropical
-island

The BUAV was informed that the slaughter, which would take place monthly
until 2012, was due to a company down size.

BUAV's Chief Executive, Michelle Thew stated:

"The BUAV is appalled to learn of this monkey slaughter. It is totally
unacceptable that monkeys who have been exploited for years are now
simply discarded because they are of no further use to the company. We
call on the Prime Minister of Mauritius to stop this senseless slaughter
and instead allow these monkeys to be released into the wild so that
they can live out the rest of their lives freely. We urge the people of
Mauritius to speak out against this terrible cruelty."

Mauritius is the world's second largest exporter of long-tailed macaques
for the research industry, exporting up to 10,000 animals each year. In
September 2010, the BUAV released the findings of its investigation into
the monkey trade on Mauritius which contained shocking evidence of the
cruelty and suffering involved in the trapping and breeding of wild
monkeys for the international research industry, in particular the UK,
USA and Europe. In 2009 Noveprim reportedly supplied 60% of the total
number of primates imported by the European Union.

To find out more about the BUAV investigation on Mauritius:

http://www.buav.org/our-campaigns/primate-campaign/buav-primate-trade-invest
igations/trading-in-cruelty

Please support the BUAV campaign by contacting the Mauritius High
Commission/Embassy in your country to protest these killings:

http://www.maurinet.com/tourist_information/mauritian_embassies_foreign_coun
tries

In the UK write to:
Mauritius High Commission
londonmhc@btinternet.com

Also, send an email to the Mauritius Prime Minister at

http://www.buav.org/take-action#media-item-id-7

Saying goodbye to Tom's tree / Adieu à l’arbre de Tom

2011-09-23T14:24:00.000-04:00

photo by / photo par Kim Belley

This past month an extremely hard decision had to be made about having what we all know now as "Tom's tree" taken down. It was sick and would have infected the rest of the tree. Another big risk was that it could have fallen from decay and possibly seriously injured one of the chimps, or fallen on the electric fence. Therefore it was taken down on August 11th. All our hearts sank when we heard the loud crash of Tom's tree when it came down, remembering Tom's first day on the islands and his amazing dash straight to the tree and his heroic climb up to the very top.

It has left a big whole in every ones heart and I am sure the Chimps will feel it as well..

C’est à contre-coeur que nous avons récemment pris la décision de faire abattre ce que nous appelions l’arbre de Tom. Une bonne portion de l’arbre étant malade, il risquait de contaminer la partie encore saine, et aussi de tomber sur quelqu’un et de causer des dégâts. Bien sûr, nous avons eu le coeur lourd en entendant le crac assourdissant qu’il a fait en tombant. Nous nous sommes tous rappelé le premier jour oû Tom a mis le pied sur l’île pour se diriger en courant vers son arbre et l’escalader jusqu’en haut.

Photos by / photo de : Laurence Levesque

As a tribute to Tom a carved wooden bench will be made in his honour. / Un banc sera sculpté à même le tronc de l’arbre de Tom.

Baby Snapping Turtle at Fauna/Tortues serpentines

2011-09-16T14:47:00.007-04:00

More than 15 little turtles were spotted crossing the Fauna drive way from a garden area to the pond. Traffic was halted and all the little guys and girls were brought over closer to the water.

Here is a look at one of the babies and a photo of an adult taken in 2011.

Une quinzaine de bébés de tortue serpentine ont été aperçus traversant le chemin qui longe l’étang. Toute circulation a été bloquée, le temps de récupérer les petits et de les ramener en toute sécurité plus près de l’eau.

Voici l’un des bébés, ainsi qu’une tortue adulte.

Dearly Departed

2011-09-13T13:54:00.008-04:00

Last week Mike, one of our animal care workers came in one morning to find that our sweet turkey Agnes has passed away. Agnes was a very old turkey who spent her life happily living with all the pot-bellied pigs, as well as, all our rooster and chickens. She had been feeling under the weather lately and we had expected that she might leave us soon, but it is never any easier for us, even if it is inevitable.

La semaine dernière, Mike un de nos préposés aux soins des animaux est arrivé un matin pour se rendre compte qu’Agnès, notre charmante dindonne, n’était plus des nôtres. Elle était très avancée en âge et menait depuis toujours une existence heureuse auprès des cochons vietnamiens, du coq et des poules. Malgré le fait qu’elle n’avait pas l’air dans son assiette dernièrement, à un point tel que nous craignions qu’elle ne nous quitte avant longtemps, ce n’est jamais facile de perdre un de nos résidents, même lorsque c’est inévitable.

And Willie one of our oldest pot-bellied pig, also passed away this past Saturday.. /

Willie, un de nos cochons vietnamiens nous a aussi quittés il y a quelques semaines.

They will all be missed by their human and non human friends at Fauna

Ils manqueront à tous leurs amis de la Fondation Fauna.

Darla & Newton

2011-09-12T13:18:00.001-04:00

Newton & Darla foraging for peanuts under their new grass!!

Darla et Newton fouillent pour trouver des arachides sous la pelouse.

Newton

Darla..

Photos by/Photo par : Isabelle Alarie

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzee

2011-09-08T15:32:00.012-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..

Martha&Chuck Sikaras, Michele Van Ryn, Lori Waters, Ms. K. Dawn Killen Courtney, Liz Thibault, Evelyn Anty Powich..

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Initiates Review of the Chimpanzee’s Status

2011-09-08T10:58:00.003-04:00

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will initiate a status review
to determine whether reclassifying all captive chimpanzees from threatened
to endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is warranted.

Currently, wild chimpanzees are listed as endangered, and captive
chimpanzees are listed as threatened. Captive chimpanzees within the
United States are covered by a special rule allowing activities otherwise
prohibited by the ESA.

Following an initial review of a petition from The Humane Society of the
United States, the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums,
the Jane Goodall Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Pan
African Sanctuary Alliance, the Fund for Animals, Humane Society
International, and the New England Anti-Vivisection Society requesting all
chimpanzees, whether found in the wild or in captivity, be listed as
endangered, the Service will undertake a more thorough review to determine
if the requested action is warranted.

The petition finding does not mean that the Service has decided it is
appropriate to list all chimpanzees as endangered under the ESA. Rather,
this finding is the first step in a process that triggers a more thorough
review of all the biological information available. The finding will
publish in the Federal Register on September 1, 2011.

To ensure this status review is comprehensive, the Service is soliciting
information from all interested parties regarding the status of this
species in the wild and in captivity, including threats to the species and
its habitat, information on management programs for chimpanzees, and
information relevant to whether any populations of this species may
qualify as distinct population segments.

Written comments and information concerning this proposal can be submitted
by one of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments to Docket No. [FWS–R9–ES–2010–0086];
or
U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public Comments Processing, Attn:
[FWS–R9–ES–2010–0086]; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS
2042–PDM; Arlington, VA 22203.

Comments must be received within 60 days, on or before October 31, 2011.
The Service will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This
generally means the agency will post any personal information provided
through the process. The Service is not able to accept email or faxes.

Following an analysis of the comments and any new information that may
become available during the comment period, the Service will move forward
as appropriate with the development of and publication of the status
review of this species.

The ESA provides a critical safety net for fish, wildlife and plants and
to date has prevented the extinction of hundreds of imperiled species, as
well as promoting the recovery of many others. The Service is actively
engaged with conservation partners and the public in the search for
improved and innovative ways to conserve and recover imperiled species. To
learn more about the Endangered Species program’s Branch of Foreign
Species, visit:
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/international-activities.html.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others
to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats
for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader
and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our
scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources,
dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more
information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit
www.fws.gov. Connect with our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/usfws,
follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usfwshq, watch our YouTube Channel
at http://www.youtube.com/usfws and download photos from our Flickr page
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq.

Federal Register /Vol. 76, No. 170 /Thursday, September 1, 2011 / Proposed Rules 54423
regular business hours in the FCC Reference Center, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., CY–A257, Washington, DC20554. These documents will also be available via ECFS. Documents will beavailable electronically in ASCII, Microsoft Word, and/or Adobe Acrobat.Accessibility Information. To request information in accessible formats(computer diskettes, large print, audio recording, and Braille), send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418–0530 (voice), (202) 418–0432 (TTY). This document can also be downloaded in Word and Portable Document Format (PDF) at: http://www.fcc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:Aaron Goldschmidt, WirelessTelecommunications Bureau, (202) 418–7146, or e-mail Aaron.Goldschmidt@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FCC
has established a Web site, http://www.fcc.gov/pea, which contains
information and downloadable documents relating to the PEA process,
including the Draft PEA. The Web site also allows individuals to contact the
Commission. Audio/video coverage of the September 20 public meeting will be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet from the FCC’s Web page at http://www.fcc.gov/live. The
FCC’s Web cast is free to the public. Those who watch the live video stream of the event may e-mail event-related questions to PEAquestions@fcc.gov. Depending on the volume of questions
and time constraints, FCC representatives will respond to as many questions as possible during the workshop.
Federal Communications Commission.Matthew Nodine, Chief of Staff, Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau.[FR Doc. 2011–22437 Filed 8–31–11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712–01–P DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 [Docket No. FWS–R9–ES–2010–0086; MO
92210–1111F113 B6] Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a
Petition To List All Chimpanzees (Pantroglodytes) as Endangered AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.ACTION: Notice of petition finding and initiation of status review. SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, announce a 90-dayfinding on a petition to list all chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing all chimpanzees as
endangered may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a review of the status of the species to determine if listing the entire species as endangered is warranted. To ensure that this status
review is comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding this species. Based on the status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on the petition, which will address whether
the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act. DATES: To allow us adequate time to conduct this review, we request that we receive information on or before October 31, 2011. ADDRESSES: You may submit information by one of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Search for Docket
No. FWS–R9–ES–2010–0086 and then
follow the instructions for submitting
comments.
• U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public
Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R9–IA–2008–0123; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042–PDM; Arlington, VA 22203.We will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see the Information Solicited section below for more details).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Janine Van Norman, Chief, Branch of Foreign Species, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 420, Arlington, VA 22203; telephone 703–358–2171; facsimile
703–358–1735. If you use a telecommunications devicefor the deaf (TDD), please call the Federal Information Relay Service(FIRS) at 800–877–8339. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Information Solicited Under the Act, when we make a finding that a petition presents substantial information indicating that listing a species may be warranted, we are required to promptly review the status of the species. To ensure that our status review of the chimpanzee is complete and based on the best available scientific and commercial information, we need certain information. We request scientific and commercial information from the public, concerned governmental
agencies, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested parties on the status of the chimpanzee throughout its range, including but not limited to:
(1) Information on taxonomy, distribution, habitat selection, diet, and population abundance and trends of this
species.
(2) Information on the effects of habitat loss and changing land uses on the distribution and abundance of this species and its principal food sources over the short and long term.
(3) Information on whether changing climatic conditions are affecting the species, its habitat, or its prey base.
(4) Information on the effects of other potential threat factors, including live capture and collection, domestic and international trade, predation by other animals, and diseases of this species.
(5) Information on management programs for chimpanzee conservation, including mitigation measures related to conservation programs, and any other private or governmental conservation programs that benefit this species.
(6) Information relevant to whether any populations of this species may qualify as distinct population segments.
(7) Information on captive breeding and domestic trade of this species in the United States.
(8) Genetics and taxonomy.
(9) The factors that are the basis for making a listing determination for a species under section 4(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act) (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), which are:
(a) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;
VerDate Mar<15>2010 16:04 Aug 31, 2011 Jkt 223001 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\01SEP1.SGM 01SEP1 emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS
54424 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 170 / Thursday, September 1, 2011 / Proposed Rules
(b) Over utilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;
(c) Disease or predation;
(d) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or
(e) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. Please include sufficient information with your submission (such as scientific journal articles or other publications) to allow us to verify any scientific or
commercial information you include. We will base our status review on the best scientific and commercial information available, including all information we receive during the public comment period. Please note that
comments merely stating support for or opposition to the action under consideration without providing supporting information, although noted,

To see full bill click the on the following link: http://www.faunafoundation.org/files-images/90-dayfindingonchimpanzees(9.1.11).pdf

U.S. Agency to Consider, Again, If Captive Chimpanzees Deserve Endangered Status

2011-09-08T10:45:00.001-04:00

Much of the petition focuses on the "sanctioned exploitation" of captive chimpanzees by the entertainment industry, as well as on the existing U.S. laws and regulations that allow people to keep the primates as pets. But these categories only account for about 260 animals; nearly half the captive chimp population consists of animals in biomedical research laboratories, which the petition claims are "often inhumanely treated." The petition does not address current U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that monitor these laboratories, but insists that an uplisting by FWS will improve their lot. "It is clear that exploitation of this species for biomedical purposes has not positively benefitted chimpanzees in captivity or in the wild; in addition to resulting in mistreatment of individual chimpanzees, such use actively undermines chimpanzee conservation," the petition states.

The last time FWS examined this issue, chimpanzees were a cornerstone of AIDS vaccine research and NIH had an active breeding program. No less than the NIH director then, James Wyngaarden, wrote to the agency to protest the reclassification, arguing that it could "significantly compromise our current ability to make selective use of chimpanzees in research to fight human disease." A chimpanzee researcher at what is now called Yerkes National Primate Research Center at the time went further in his warnings. "When the pandemic of AIDS becomes a truly frightening thing, humans will not stand by and watch their own species reduced while they protect animals that could help test vaccines and drugs," said Frederick King said in a 1998 issue of Science. Researchers further worried that endangered status for captive chimps could create massive red tape for their studies.

Today, no one conducts AIDS vaccine experiments with chimpanzees, and the breeding program was stopped more than 15 years ago. Legislation now before Congress, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which HSUS and several other petitioners have helped craft, calls for an end to all invasive biomedical research with chimpanzees. An Institute of Medicine committee, at NIH's behest, also is currently studying the use of chimpanzees in biomedical and behavioral research.

Science Insider contacted NIH Director Francis Collins for comment today, but there was no immediate response. Barbara Alving, who heads the division of NIH that oversees the 500 or so chimpanzees that it owns, was traveling and unavailable for comment, as was the head of Yerkes. Several other researchers who study captive chimpanzees did not respond to interview requests. Only one scientist, who conducts noninvasive studies on chimps, would comment, but insisted on not being named. "It's entirely unclear what this implies from a policy making standpoint," the scientist said. "On the one hand it might make chimpanzees less useful for scientific research, even noninvasive studies that no one would have any quarrels with. But then again, if the chimpanzees NIH holds are deemed endangered, Fish and Wildlife could require breeding of the animals."

Alexandra Thornton, an executive vice president with the Jane Goodall Institute-a co-petitioner-says she doubts FWS would make such a move. "One could equally say they could be prevented from breeding because it would create more endangered species," says Thornton, who is also a lawyer.

But the practical implications of uplisting the status of captive chimpanzees remains murky even to proponents of the change. In the past, conservationists wanted to list captive chimpanzee as endangered in part to prevent laboratories in the United States from importing captive chimpanzees in Africa. They also wanted to better monitor captive chimpanzees, which endangered status would allow. The petition does not mention either of these issues.

The central argument in the petition revolves around chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry, which it says "misleads the public into believing that chimpanzees are well protected in the wild, thereby reinforcing negative conservation attitudes and inhibiting efforts to raise awareness of the species' plight." Thornton of the Jane Goodall Institute adds that there is a "hypocrisy" conservationists must confront: They ask Africans not to slaughter chimpanzees for food or poach them for pets but the United States continues to allow them to be commercialized. "At a minimum, we'd like to see a level of scrutiny that just isn't happening right now," she says, stressing that wild populations have declined substantially. "We don't have a lot of time left."

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/08/us-agency-to-consider-again.html

Federal officials to weigh new protections for captive chimpanzees

2011-09-05T14:01:00.001-04:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/federal-officials-to-weigh-new-protections-for-captive-chimpanzees/2011/08/31/gIQAmbbosJ_story.html

Ted S. Warren/AP Photo - This April 29, 2009 photo shows "Jamie," a chimpanzee who was owned as a pet and then sold to a medical research facility, at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in Cle Elum, Wash.

By Juliet Eilperin, Published: August 31

The federal government will examine whether captive chimpanzees should be reclassified as “endangered,” officials said Wednesday, a move that could eventually prevent the animals from being used in medical experiments or for entertainment.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — responding to a petition filed by groups including the Humane Society of the United States and the Jane Goodall Institute — announced it had found enough information to justify a review of whether captive chimpanzees need a more protective listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Get the latest health and science news

Wild chimps are listed as endangered. Captive ones — about 2,000 in the United States — are listed as threatened; this allows them to be used for purposes that otherwise would be prohibited.

“We’re concerned about the exploitation of chimpanzees in the U.S.,” said Kathleen Conlee, senior director for animal research issues at the Humane Society. “We do applaud [Fish and Wildlife] for taking this initial step of reviewing chimpanzees’ status.”

Gary Frazer, Fish and Wildlife’s assistant director for endangered species, said he expects the review to take a year to complete.

“The petition provided substantial information that further review is warranted,” Frazer said.

Treatment of chimpanzees in the United States has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. Last month, the Institute of Medicine held hearings about the ethics of experimenting on chimps, a practice in the United States and Gabon.

From 2007 until last year, the number of biomedical chimp studies conducted in the United States declined, from 53 to 32, because prominent pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Genentech stopped using the animals in experiments.

The petitioners also questioned whether using chimps in entertainment has convinced the public that they are not facing a serious threat. The global wild chimpanzee population has declined 60 percent in the past two decades and now stands between 175,000 and 300,000. In the early 1900s, there were a million chimpanzees in the wild.

Alexandra Thornton, executive vice president of strategic operations and public policy at the Jane Goodall Institute, said it’s hard for her group, which educates the public about conservation in general and chimpanzees in particular, “to do that when the public is constantly barraged with images of chimps in entertainment and can get them as pets.”

Reclassifying captive chimpanzees might not eliminate the domestic pet trade altogether but would bar chimp breeders from transporting the animals across state lines for sale.

NEAVS Helps Tip The Scales On IOM Chimp Study

2011-08-30T14:53:00.002-04:00

The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) testified before the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies of Science during their second public meeting held in Washington D.C., August 11 – 12th. The Committee on Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research (the Committee) is charged with evaluating the scientific necessity of chimpanzee research. The National Institutes of Health instructed the Committee not to consider ethical concerns.

During the Public Comment forum, Dr. Theodora Capaldo, NEAVS President, advised the Committee by quoting Nature: “The agency [NIH] may wish to divorce the science from the ethics, but society at large will not accept such a distinction... nor is it intellectually defensible.” Dr. Capaldo’s testimony made it clear that one cannot separate scientific concerns from humane ones, since the well-documented physiological stress chimpanzees and other animals suffer from laboratory confinement and use affects their brains, bodies, and immune systems, having a profound effect on the nature of the data obtained from their use.

At the Committee’s first public forum on May 26th, NEAVS’ Science Director, Dr. Jarrod Bailey, was among the scientists the Committee invited to testify. Dr. Bailey provided testimony that the use of chimpanzees in HIV/AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C, and other human disease research has been limited, inaccurate, un-predictive, and unnecessary and has contributed little or nothing to human health. Dr. Bailey summarized his research for the Committee:

“After careful review of over thirty years of chimpanzee use in many areas of human disease research, the following conclusions can be drawn and supported scientifically... they’re rarely used today. They have proven to be poor models in many areas, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C; chimpanzee use in cancer and heart disease research has been almost non-existent because either they don’t get the disease, or they get a very different disease. There is burgeoning evidence of major, important and widespread genetic differences showing why chimpanzees are poor models for human research….and why they can never be good models.”

At the recent meeting, Dr. Capaldo expanded upon Dr. Bailey’s testimony by citing research on the psychological and physiological stress effects on chimpanzees in labs:

“Studies have established that chimpanzees in research suffer from PTSD, depression and other psychological maladies. And routine and invasive procedures cause elevations of physiological stress indicators…. Stress affects immune systems—crucial for the study of infectious diseases—and vital organs such as the liver—important for the metabolism of drugs—and renders the use of chimpanzees flawed science…even if assumed they may have value—which we do not.”

Dr. Capaldo backed her scientific arguments with the dire ethical concerns surrounding chimpanzee use. She concluded her testimony by introducing the committee to Jeannie and Tom, rescued from years of invasive research by the Fauna Foundation. They both later died in sanctuary. Dr. Capaldo reminded committee members that despite their mandate to focus only on the science, “we are talking about living beings, not test tubes.” She read an excerpt from Jeannie’s history of use and psychological suffering and from Tom’s autopsy report—both undeniable proof of the physical and psychological suffering that chimpanzees endure, noting, “Their stories are not atypical.” She asserted that, “Arguing [their] worth to research, except as a study of its casualties, would be indefensible.” The room was silent. She appealed to the Committee that to arrive at an informed decision, the ethical concerns http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsurrounding chimpanzee use cannot be put aside—for scientific as well as ethical reasons and that including them “will direct the better science that would follow.”

Read more…
http://www.releasechimps.org/2011/08/18/neavs-helps-tip-the-scales-on-iom-chimp-study/#jump

Bear in Mind Exploring the common minds and emotions of people and other animals and their lives together. by G.A. Bradshaw

2011-08-30T14:48:00.000-04:00

We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism. -Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1992

Last week, the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee convened to discuss the "Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research" [1]. The IOM is regarded as "the health arm" of the National Academies and is comprised of NIH, NIMH, and other scientists and biomedical researchers. Its stated goals are concerned with the science describing humans and chimpanzees. Scientists have been enlisted to assess the utility and ethics of chimpanzees as experimental subjects in lieu of humans: to decide whether or not it is scientifically viable and ethical to continue to use chimpanzees as our surrogates in experiments that cause debilitating diseases and mental breakdown.

Read full article below:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bear-in-mind/201108/dissolving-caliban-s-line

Today is Jethro's Birthday / C’est l’anniversaire de Jethro.

2011-08-23T14:48:00.005-04:00

Jethro is 22 years old today, and still a young boy. Jethro is a sweet gentle giant and he is a friend to everyone in the chimp house. He always chooses who he wants to be with from week to week. If Jethro is not moving with the group it means he wants a new friend and will always let us know exactly who he wants to be with. Lately his preferred friends have been Spock, Binky and Maya. Jethro is very playful and makes the the most adorable play faces. He is the most playful in the morning just prior to cleaning...a little tickle and kiss on the forehead and he is a happy guy. Jethro has been spending much of his time out on the islands. In the morning we can often see him sitting high up on the island platforms quietly grooming Spock.

Why not visit our adopt-a-chimp page http://www.adopt-a-chimp.com/ and purchase an adoption kit of Jethro for someone special in your life.

Jethro a 22 ans aujourd’hui, une jeunesse, quoi! Ce colosse au cœur tendre s’entend bien avec tout le monde et il choisit ses fréquentations de semaine en semaine. Quand il ne suit pas le groupe, c’est qu’il est prêt à se trouver un nouvel ami et il nous fait toujours savoir qui il a choisi. Ces derniers temps, il a une préférence pour Spock, Binky et Maya. Quand Jethro s’amuse, il a des expressions des plus cocasses, surtout le matin, juste avant le nettoyage; il lui suffit d’une petite chatouille ou d’un baiser sur le front, et il est tout content! Il passe beaucoup de temps sur les îles. Le matin, on peut l’apercevoir assis tranquillement en haut des plateformes, en train de toiletter Spock.

Pourquoi ne pas consulter notre page d’adoption http://www.adopt-a-chimp.com/ et acheter un forfait d’adoption de Jethro pour quelqu’un qui vous est cher?

Chimpanzee research an endangered species as experts debate usefulness, ethics

2011-08-19T13:10:00.003-04:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chimpanzee-research-an-endangered-species-as-experts-debate-usefulness-ethics/2011/08/12/gIQAGt0xDJ_story.html

Published on Sunday, August 14, 2011 by the Washington Post

USA, Gabon: The Only Countries Still Conducting Research on Chimpanzees

Chimpanzee research an endangered species as experts debate usefulness, ethics

by Brian Vastag

They were crucial for vaccines against hepatitis A and B. They took part in hundreds of early studies of HIV. And in 1961, two of them were shot into space.
Ham was sent into space and returned to Earth in January 1961.

Currently, there are about 1,000 medical research chimps in the United States But the role of chimpanzees in medical research is at a crossroads. Last week, the highest scientific body in the land put the issue on trial as a committee of the Institute of Medicine, part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences, met to deliberate the fate of nearly all of the world’s remaining medical research chimps.
The European Union banned the practice last year, leaving the United States and Gabon as the only countries conducting medical research on chimpanzees. At drug companies, chimp research is waning with the emergence of lower-cost, higher-tech alternatives.
“If you’re a scientist, a chimp is really a sort of last resort,” said Harold Watson, who directs the chimpanzee research program at the National Institutes of Health, which manages 734 of the nearly 1,000 medical research chimps in the United States.
Last year, the issue blew up at NIH. That’s when the agency announced it would move 200 older apes from a facility in New Mexico to an active research lab in Texas. A parade of politicians, activists and famous faces — including former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson (D) and chimpanzee champion Jane Goodall — mounted an uprising. NIH relented, transferring just 14 of the animals before charging the Institute of Medicine with arbitrating the issue in January.
The Institute of Medicine will issue its findings by the end of the year. Although Watson said NIH officials would “pay attention” to the recommendations — which could include ending all medical research on chimps — he declined to predict the agency’s response. “I can’t tell you what impact [the report] is going to have,” he said.
Already, though, chimps — expensive, difficult to handle and so like humans — are falling out of favor with researchers.
From 2007 to 2010, the number of biomedical chimp studies conducted in the United States declined from 53 to 32, said Robert Purcell, a virus researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH. Just one of those studies involved HIV — which in the 1980s and 1990s was extensively studied in apes. None of the studies involved cancer.
“Use of chimps for HIV decreased dramatically as [research] migrated over to rhesus monkeys,” which more faithfully reproduce human HIV infections, Watson said.
At any given time, 20 percent of available chimps are being used in medical studies, Watson said.
One big reason for the drop: Drug companies are forgoing chimp studies. In 2008, GlaxoSmithKline announced it would no longer use any apes. Biotech giant Genentech also ended the practice, said Theresa Reynolds, director of drug safety assessment at the company. “With advances in technology, chimps are no longer necessary” for developing high-tech drugs called monoclonal antibodies, she said. Before the Institute of Medicine meeting, Reynolds informally polled executives at “six or eight” other biotech firms; none use chimps.
A major international effort to develop a malaria vaccine also eschews apes. “It has worked well to work in mice and then move to monkeys, not chimps,” said Ann-Marie Cruz, program officer at the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.
But chimp research still has its champions. The animals are vital for developing drugs and vaccines against hepatitis C, Purcell said; about 75 percent of ongoing chimp studies involve hepatitis C. The virus, which is carried by 3.2 million Americans and often causes liver cancer, infects no other lab animal.
“It’s also important to keep chimps available for diseases we haven’t seen yet, future ‘Hot Zone’ agents we can only speculate about,” Purcell said.
Many of the hepatitis studies take place at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio. A scientist there, Robert Lanford, said that testing new drugs and vaccines in chimps “increases success in the clinic” by weeding out ineffective or unsafe candidates.
NIAID researcher Peter Collins pointed to chimps as the only species for testing vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus, which infects infants and the elderly. Like hepatitis C, RSV does not infect rats or mice.
In the fictional laboratories depicted in the film “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “humanized chimps” revolt. In real laboratories, though, it’s “humanized mice” that may set free the medical chimps.
These engineered rodents carry tiny human livers, which succumb to hepatitis C, said Alexander Ploss of Rockefeller University. Some versions of the mice also live with human immune systems, which render their infections more like those seen in people.
“We are more than halfway” to mice that could replace chimps in hepatitis studies, Ploss said. “Whether we have that mouse in two years, five years, 10 years . . . who knows?”
In directing the Institute of Medicine committee, NIH officials were explicit in their charge: They asked the committee to examine only the scientific value of chimp research. But Thursday, committee members made clear that ethical issues are also in play.
They arranged for Goodall — for decades the world’s most prominent chimp advocate — to speak from Britain.
“From their point of view, it’s like torture,” Goodall said of chimpanzees kept captive for developing new medicines. “They are in prison and have done nothing wrong.”
A short time later, Eugene Schiff, a hepatitis researcher at the University of Miami, said, “I’ve never worked with chimps, but just listening to Jane Goodall, I got a guilt trip.”
Humanity, it seems, is on a collective guilt trip. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a blockbuster. And in April, Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) reintroduced the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which would ban “invasive research” on great apes in the United States.
“We wouldn’t be having this meeting if ethics wasn’t an issue,” Frans de Waal told the IOM committee. The Emory University researcher, whose pioneering studies with captive chimpanzees have revealed their human-like empathy, continued, “We don’t have this kind of meeting about rats.”

© 2011 Washington Post

2011-08-12T13:13:00.004-04:00

Photos and/or videos of your companion rat, mouse, guinea pig, ferret, rabbit, or beagle.

Dear NEAVS supporters,

We are looking to expand our video and photo library and we need your help!

We use rescued animals rather than stock photography for nearly all of our work… so if you have video/photos please send them to us today.

Specific animal videos/photos we are seeking include mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, beagles—the most commonly used lab animals. If you have a cat rescued from a lab or science teaching program, we welcome images of him/her as well.

Please follow the steps below (we regret that photos/videos submitted outside of the provided guidelines cannot be considered):

[A] To send a photo: Download and complete form; email form and photos to info@neavs.org with subject line: Companion Animal Photo.
Please be mindful of photo quality. Set your camera to its highest resolution (go to Image Mode, and select the highest number), which will likely be about 14mp for newer point-and-shoot cameras. File size 10mb and under will transfer to our email. Larger than 10mb please contact us for an alternate upload method.

[B] To send a video: Download and complete form; email form to info@neavs.org with subject line: Companion Animal Video, then mail CD ROM or DVD to NEAVS/COMPANION ANIMAL DVD, 333 WASHINGTON ST, STE 850, BOSTON, MA 02108.

We regret that we cannot use all photos/videos submitted. Our decisions are dependent upon certain criteria including actual image, quality of photo, and matching need. Submitted DVDs will not be returned unless accompanied by a postage-paid return-addressed padded envelope.

Thank you!

New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS)
333 Washington Street, Suite 850, Boston, MA 02108
Copyright © 2011 NEAVS. All rights reserved.
Manage your email subscription. Current Member Sign-in. Tell-a-friend. Contact us. Donate. www.NEAVS.org

Stop Using Chimps as Guinea Pigs

2011-08-12T13:10:00.002-04:00

Op-Ed Contributor By ROSCOE G. BARTLETT

Publlihed: August 10, 2011 Washington, DC

BEFORE I was elected to Congress, I was a physiologist at the Navy’s School of Aviation Medicine. For our successful missions to transport men to the moon and return them safely to Earth, I invented a series of respiratory support devices, which we tested on primates, including Baker, a squirrel monkey. Before humans were rocketed into space, Baker was the first primate to survive a trip into space and back; Able, her counterpart on the flight, died from an allergic reaction to an anesthetic during a procedure shortly after the landing.

At the time, I believed such research was worth the pain inflicted on the animals. But in the years since, our understanding of its effect on primates, as well as alternatives to it, have made great strides, to the point where I no longer believe such experiments make sense — scientifically, financially or ethically. That’s why I have introduced bipartisan legislation to phase out invasive research on great apes in the United States.

Today is the start of a two-day public hearing convened by the Institute of Medicine, which is examining whether there is still a need for invasive chimpanzee research. Meanwhile, nine countries, as well as the European Union, already forbid or restrict invasive research on great apes. Americans have to decide if the benefits to humans of research using chimpanzees outweigh the ethical, financial and scientific costs.

The evidence is mounting that they do not. For one thing, many new techniques are cheaper, faster and more effective, including computer modeling and the testing of very small doses on human volunteers. In vitro methods now grow human cells and tissues for human biomedical studies, bypassing the need for whole animals.

Such advances have led to a drop in primate research. Many federally owned chimpanzees were bred to support AIDS research, but later proved inferior to more modern technologies. As a result, most of the 500 federally owned chimpanzees are idling in warehouses. Ending chimpanzee research and retiring the animals to sanctuaries would save taxpayers about $30 million a year.

We also know more about the consequences of invasive research on the animals themselves. Biomedical procedures that are simple when performed on humans often require traumatizing restraint of chimpanzees to protect human researchers from injury, as chimpanzees are five times stronger than humans. For instance, acquiring a blood sample from a chimp can require a “knockdown,” or shooting it with a tranquilizer gun. If you’ve seen video of a knockdown, you know it is clearly frightening and stressful.

Moreover, even the mere confinement in laboratory cages deprives chimpanzees of basic physical, social and emotional sustenance. Numerous peer-reviewed studies of chimpanzees in sanctuaries who had previously been confined in laboratories have documented behavioral symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Chronic and traumatic stress harms chimpanzees’ health and compromises the results of experiments conducted on them.

There is no question that chimpanzees experience pain, stress and social isolation in ways strikingly similar to the way humans do. James Marsh’s recent documentary, “Project Nim,” chronicles the 27-year life of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was the subject of a controversial research project that involved raising him as though he were a human. Nim was taught sign language — and he used those signs to tell his human interlocutors that he was traumatized by his living conditions.

Nim isn’t alone. In his book “Next of Kin,” Dr. Roger S. Fouts recounted his reunion with a chimp named Booee. After 13 years of separation, and after Booee was deliberately infected with hepatitis C, Booee recognized, signed and played with Dr. Fouts, to whom he had given the signed nickname of “Rodg.” Other visitors reported that Booee used the American Sign Language gesture for “keys,” indicating that he wanted to get out of his cage.

Stories like these, as well as my understanding of the state of biomedical research, persuaded me to sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act with Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington. The bill would phase out invasive research on great apes and retire the 500 federally owned chimpanzees from laboratories to sanctuaries.

Continuing innovations in alternatives to the use of invasive research on great apes is the civilized way forward in the 21st century. Past civilizations were measured by how they treated their elderly and disabled. I believe that we will be measured, in part, by how we treat animals, particularly great apes.

Americans can no longer justify confining these magnificent and innocent animals to traumatic invasive research and life imprisonment.

Roscoe G. Bartlett is a Republican representative from Maryland.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on August 11, 2011, on page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Stop Using Chimps as Guinea Pigs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/opinion/stop-using-chimps-as-guinea-pigs.html

Lauren Silverman Simon
Federal Legislative Specialist, Government Affairs
lsilverman@humanesociety.org
t 202.955.3675 f 202.676.2302

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street NW Washington, DC 20037
humanesociety.org

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Project Nim in theaters now

2011-08-08T13:44:00.006-04:00

As of August 5th, Project Nim is now playing in theaters across Quebec. It is playing at the AMC in Montreal and is a must see documentary. Many of the Fauna Chimpanzees have endured some of the same trials and tribulations as Nim. We owe it all the chimpanzees around the world that are still and will continue to be put through the same ordeal. Take the time!

Click below for the official trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vha0FI0j8

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les ch

2011-08-01T14:48:00.010-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..
Tanya McAleer, Christine McMahon, Lynda & Willie Donelle, Stephane LePage&Richard Lipman

CWU professors, chimp experts retire

2011-08-01T11:57:00.002-04:00

Posted: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 1:30 pm | Updated: 1:23 pm, Tue Jun 21, 2011.

By MICHAEL GALLAGHER assistant editor

ELLENSBURG — After more than 30 years at Central Washington University and more than 45 years of working with chimpanzees, Roger and Debbie Fouts retired from their positions at CWU this month.

But retirement for the Foutses is not as simple as turning in the key to the office. To a certain degree, it’s not retirement at all.

“Life with chimpanzees is not a job,” Roger said.

“We’ll be more like grandparents,” Debbie said. “We’ll see them from time to time, but I won’t be going every morning to greet them.”

Click on the following link for the full story : http://dailyrecordnews.com/top_story/cwu-professors-chimp-experts-retire/article_a5759516-9c2e-11e0-84ca-001cc4c03286.html

About Roger Fouts :http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/fouts.htm#Bibliography

Project R&R Action Alert

2011-07-29T14:28:00.005-04:00

Primates Suffer in Cargo Transport

Airlines transport primates packed into small wooden crates to research facilities worldwide, including to the U.S. Some die in transport because of the deplorable conditions of being shipped as cargo. Others endure and survive only to reach a cruel fate in research.

A recent report from BUAV cited 11 airlines that continue to transport primates. They found that Air France ships to Covance Clinical Research Units in the USA; Air Canada ships primates from China to labs in Canada; and China Southern and Eastern airlines transport them to the U.S.

During flights, the primates endure delays, poor ventilation, noise and dangerous temperature fluctuations on their extremely long journeys. The anxiety and stress they suffer can lead to increased susceptibility to infection. Documents obtained by BUAV provide a disturbing insight into how these animals suffer.

The following reported incidences illustrate the pain and suffering endured by the primates:

‘On uncrating, he was found in moribund condition. Part of the wooden crate had been chewed away and no food was present in the crate. The primate died while IV fluids were being administered.’

‘One animal died during transport from Vietnam. The animal was removed in Paris at the airport; the cause of death was reportedly from ... [the build-up of gas in the intestinal tract]

‘One animal imported from Mauritius was dead on arrival.’

Conditions that resulted in the death or euthanasia of primates (during the quarantine period) imported into the USA during 2009 included pneumonia, enteritis, gastroenteritis, dehydration, weight loss, poor body condition and infection.

NEAVS is calling on supporters to contact airlines listed below to request that they cease involvement in primate transport and implement an immediate ban on the transportation of primates for research.

Suggested text

I am shocked to learn that your airline has, is or would be involved in the international transportation of primates to laboratories. It is inhumane and unacceptable that living animals are packed into small crates and shipped like cargo only to end up in laboratories where they will suffer or die in experiments.

I urge you to join the increasing number of airlines that have stopped their involvement in this money making cruelty and instead refuse to be a part of the trade in living animals for profit and research. Until you do, I will not be flying with your airline.

Sincerely,

Your name

__________________

Send to:
Air Canada
Air Canada Centre
Fax: +44 (0) 208 750 8495
Email: acexecutive.hautedirectionac@aircanada.ca and aircanada_customercare_en@mailca.custhelp.com

American Airlines
Gerard J. Arpey, Chairman
Fax: +44 (0)20 8745 1469
Email: Customer.Relations@aa.com
LiveAnimals.Cargo@aa.com
contactus@aacargo.com

Continental Airlines
Fax: +44 (0)1293 567122
Email: corpcomm@coair.com

Other Airlines:
Air China
Email: info@cacargo.co.uk

Air France
Email: customer-service.LHR@klmcargo.com

Caribbean Airlines
Email: cto.uk@caribbean-airlines.com

China Eastern Airlines
Email: saleslondon@chinaeastern.co.uk

China Southern Airlines
Email: csnib@csair.com and ecsupport@csair.com

Philippine Airlines
Email: corpcomms@pal.com.ph

Vietnam Airlines
Email: cargo@vietnamair.com.vn

American Airlines Stops Flying Primates for Research Labs /American Airlines refuse de transporter des primates destinés aux laboratoires de recherche

2011-07-29T14:21:00.003-04:00

By Jennifer Mishler,

American Airlines reports that they will no longer fly primates being sent to research labs!

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has stated that the airline changed its policy as a result of talks with them regarding the flying of primates for research, an issue that is the focus of their Cargo Cruelty campaign. “”We welcome the action taken by American Airlines to clarify its policy on this important issue. The shipment of monkeys for research is a subject that raises strong public concern,” said Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of BUAV. The organization points out that in research labs, “primates are often housed on their own in small, barren metal cages for many years with no meaningful environmental enrichment. With little opportunity for mental stimulation and physical exercise, these animals frequently develop abnormal and self-destructive behaviours that may include pacing, rocking, swaying, bar biting, and self-mutilation.”

The updated policy on the American Airlines website states that “AA Cargo will not accept primates used for laboratory research, experimentation, and exploitation purposes.” The policy also includes the requirement that the primates “are being shipped from or to a zoo sanctuary, preserve or rehabilitation center.”

PETA has also applauded American Airlines’ decision to stop flying primates for research and adds that they have joined a list that includes “British Airways, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Delta Air Lines, Air China, Monarch Air Group, Amerijet, IBC Airways, and several other airlines in refusing to transport primates to facilities where they will be tormented and killed in experiments.”

BUAV provides a list of airlines that do and do not fly primates for research purposes, if you’d like to use it when making your next flight choice!

American Airlines refuse de transporter des primates destinés aux laboratoires de recherche

Par Jennifer Mishler

La compagnie aérienne American Airlines annonce qu’elle n’acceptera plus de transporter des primates qui sont destinés aux laboratoires de recherche!

La British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Union (BUAV) a déclaré que la compagnie aérienne a changé sa politique suite aux pourparlers avec l’organisation concernant le transport aérien des primates au profit de la recherche scientifique, lequel fait l’objet de sa campagne surnommée Cargo Cruelty. « Nous saluons l’initiative prise par American Airlines afin de clarifier sa politique en ce qui concerne cet enjeu important. Le transport par avion de singes destinés à la recherche est une question qui préoccupe le grand public, » dit Michelle Thew, Directice Générale de la BUAV. L’organisation souligne que dans les laboratoires de recherche, « les primates sont souvent logés pendant plusieurs années dans des cages de métal dénuées, exigües et sans le moindre confort. Avec si peu de possibilités de stimulation mentale ou d’exercice physique, ces animaux développent des comportements anormaux et autodestructeurs, comme piétiner à l’intérieur de leur cage, se recroqueviller en position fœtale et se balancer, mordre les barreaux de la cage et s’automutiler. »

Une mise à jour de la politique d’American Airlines sur son site web déclare que « AA Cargo n’acceptera plus de transporter des primates utilisés à des fins de recherche, d’expérimentation et d’exploitation. » La politique inclut également une clause précisant que tous les primates expédiés par la compagnie aérienne « doivent provenir de ou être envoyés vers un zoo sanctuaire, une réserve faunique ou un centre de réhabilitation. »

Le groupe PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) a également applaudi la décision d’American Airlines et ajoute que la compagnie aérienne rejoint ainsi les rangs des nombreuses lignes aériennes qui refusent de transporter des primates vers des installations où ils seront tourmentés et tués au cours d’expériences scientifiques, dont entre autres, British Airways, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Delta Air Lines, Air China, Monarch Air Group, Amerijet, IBC Airways, ainsi que plusieurs autres.

Si vous désirez faire un choix averti lors de votre prochaine déplacement en avion, la BUAV donne accès à une liste des compagnies aériennes qui ne transportent pas de primates destinés à la recherche!

Pour plus de renseignements: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/american-airlines-stops-flying-primates-for-research-labs.html#ixzz1SjyITiqh

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-07-29T14:01:00.000-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..

Matthieu MacPherron, Laurie Hail, Flavio Ciutola, and Catherine & Summer Beaudoin

Close up's, hands, feet, lips and much more / Gros plans, mains, pieds, lèvres et autres

2011-07-29T12:15:00.000-04:00

Here are some amazing shots of the chimps close up; they are so precious we had to put some up for everyone to enjoy!

Voici quelques magnifiques photos en gros plan des chimpanzés. Ils sont si adorables qu’il nous fallait les partager avec vous!

Petra photo by / de : Kim

Toby Photo by / de : Julie Gauthier

Sue Ellen giving kisses and Pepper Photo by / de : Julie Gauthier

Toby Photo by / de : Kim

Binky By / De : Kim

Tom Photo by / de : Kim

Sue Ellen Photo by / de : Jessica

Regis Photo by / de : Dale

Regis Photo by / de : Kim

Binky Photo by / de : Kim

Pepper Photo by / de : Fauna

Jethro Photo by / de : Fauna

Donna Rae Photo by / de : Fauna

Pepper Photo by / de : Kim

Chance Photo by / de : Fauna

Billy Jo Photo by / de : Fauna

Annie Photo by / de : Alan Lee

Rachel Photo by / de : Kim

Binky Photo by / de : Kim

Theo Photo by / de : Fauna

Jethro's toes and Yoko Photo by / de : Fauna

Toby Photo by / de : Kim

Rachel Photo by / de : Julie Gauthier

Yoko Photo by / de : Michelle Legault

Feud over 'Project Nim' - Los Angeles Times

2011-07-18T13:47:00.003-04:00

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-project-nim-20110710,0,316224.story

Director James Marsh and Herbert Terrace, who led the experiment in the 1970s to teach a chimpanzee sign language, differ over the documentary's representation of the scientist and the science.

By Allan M. Jalon, Special to the Los Angeles Times

July 10, 2011

Reporting from New York ——

An 18th century novel doesn't seem like an obvious inspiration for a documentary about a chimpanzee in a modern scientific experiment, but that's part of what influenced James Marsh when he made "Project Nim." Like Henry Fielding's sprawling epic, "Tom Jones," Marsh says, his film about a charismatic primate who learns to use sign language "holds up a mirror" to the world around his protagonist.

That mirror is not always flattering to the well-heeled bohemians, student idealists and researchers who came into Nim Chimpsky's orbit starting in the 1970s. But it lingers longest on Herbert Terrace, the Columbia University behavioral psychologist who conceived the experiment in a challenge to linguist Noam Chomsky's contention that grammatical speech is uniquely human.

Now, Terrace is unhappy with what he says Marsh's filmic looking glass has reflected back: a remote, publicity-seeking scientist who exploited a helpless animal without sufficient regard for his long-term well being. In Terrace's view, the film omits the real story of unbiased scientific work that deserves respect for delivering important results.

"I'm upset because the film creates the impression the project was a failure because it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped it would when I started," Terrace declared recently in his office at Columbia, where he still runs the Primate Cognition Laboratory. "The only line between success and failure for scientists is really whether they honestly report their results, and I did that."

But that's not all Terrace is displeased about. "The film also suggests I was not affectionately involved with Nim. And that's not true." Marsh, he added, has "made a technically good film, but he's misrepresented me, and he misrepresented the science."

Marsh, who directed the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary "Man on Wire," about high-wire artist Philippe Petit, said he "couldn't have made the film" without Terrace and denies editing the movie to cast the professor in a poor light. "Project Nim," he said, merely captures what his on-camera interviewees — "witnesses," he calls them — think about the complicated, controversial project with the benefit of hindsight.

The rift between Terrace and Marsh is spilling out into the open as the film arrives in theaters this month after premiering in January at the Sundance Film Festival — a premiere that Marsh admits he worked to keep Terrace from attending because others in the film didn't want him there.

Just as Marsh's documentary didn't turn out as Terrace might have anticipated, neither did the original project with Nim Chimpsky.

Terrace was a Harvard-trained protégé of behaviorist B.F. Skinner, who believed one could teach animals to do almost anything, and the Skinner-Chomsky rivalry framed the Nim project. Marsh's film, however, barely touches on the scientific context and instead uses archival footage, interviews and dramatic re-creations (including a man in a chimp suit) to envelop viewers in Nim's perspective.

The story begins in 1973, when the head of a primate center in Oklahoma shoots a female chimpanzee with a tranquilizer gun and sweeps her infant from her. That baby — Nim — is flown to New York and into the arms of a human mother picked by Terrace. This new mom is studying psychoanalysis, her husband is a poet, and she dwells on Nim's Oedipal tendencies as he wreaks chaos in her brownstone.

Because chimps' anatomy hinders them from vocalizing words, Terrace and his students teach Nim sign language. In the film, the frontier between species seems to narrow as Nim's learned signs flash across the screen — the chimp claps his hands to sign "play," touches his mouth to indicate "eat." Seeing a cat in a handler's lap, he points to himself, and gestures three signs: "Nim," "hug," "cat."

After several years, and a series of teachers who develop strong attachments to Nim (and sometimes to each other), Terrace runs into funding problems and ends the project. Nim is sent back to the Oklahoma center, and Terrace sets about studying the data collected during the experiment.

Other researchers who were growing confident about chimp-human connections believed that the Nim experiment would topple Chomsky's claim once and for all. But Terrace stunned the primate research world with a 1979 paper declaring that Chomsky was right: Though it may have looked like Nim was making human-like sentences, in fact, Terrace concluded, he was communicating in ways less developed than people do.

That paper, cowritten with Laura-Ann Petitto, a key Nim teacher, has stood the test of time and has been reinforced by recent genetic research on chimpanzees, according to Jon Cohen, a longtime reporter for Science magazine and author of a recent well-received book on chimp-human relations, "Almost Chimpanzee: Searching for What Makes Us Human, in Rainforests, Labs, Sanctuaries, and Zoos."

Cohen said recent genetic mapping of chimpanzees shows the gaps between them and humans and leaves Terrace looking like "the one truth-teller" emerging from an era.

"When you really start to look at Terrace and what he did, I think he sharpened the dividing line between us and every other species," Cohen said. "I have not had a single moment that made me question Terrace's conclusion. He took on the leading people in the field, and he said they were wrong."

But the film doesn't focus much on how Terrace's research was received. Instead, it follows what happened to Nim after he returns to Oklahoma, then is sold to a New York University medical research lab, then winds up at a Texas sanctuary.

Looking back, Terrace agrees he could have been more mindful of Nim's needs. "I didn't use a broad, commonsensical awareness of what would happen to him as he grew stronger," he says, sitting in his book-lined office at Columbia, which is decorated with a large art piece depicting chimps going wild in an elegant library.

Terrace said his strongest objection to Marsh's film is that it skips his efforts to save Nim from NYU's medical lab. "I called the [New York] Post. I got the media involved. I talked to the people at NYU. I was running the show. In the film, it was as if I was a minor figure on the sidelines."

He's also unhappy that the film reveals that he slept with Petitto, his researcher, making it seem like a mere fling. "I fell in love with her," he said, adding that later he dedicated his book, "Nim," to her and said that her work on the project led to her career as "a distinguished scientist."

Marsh is resolutely unapologetic about that or any of his choices in telling the story. "It is a compression of 26 years of a sentient creature's life into an hour and a half, and that is done essentially by me as the author of the film," he says. "There is no agenda."

calendar@latimes.com

Gloria Grow on CJAD Radio

2011-07-14T20:13:00.000-04:00

Gloria Grow the founder of the Fauna Foundation was on CJAD radio on July 6th...click on the following link to hear the full interview

The Fauna Gardens Open House Days / Les Jardins de Fauna Journées Portes Ouvertes

2011-07-13T12:27:00.000-04:00

Fauna Gardens Open House days. We have selected three dates which will, hopefully, coincide with the best bloom times for each season and we offer tours at different times of each day. Please read the attached invitation and contact us with your preferred date and time. The first tour day is coming soon, Saturday May 14th!

The Fauna Gardens
(3802 Chemin Bellerive, Carignan, qc.)
2011 open house fundraisers
~~~~~~~~
The Fauna gardens will be open to visitors on:
· Saturday, May 14 (tour departs at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm):
– spring bulb extravaganza & woodland roam

· Saturday, July 24 (tour departs at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm and 5:00 PM):
– high summer tour & the sundown magical hour
· Saturday, September 17 (tour departs at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm):

– Late Bloomers and Long players: the last hurrah
~~~~~~~~
Entrance fee: $40. Per person
(tax deductible receipt)
Includes: 3- hour guided tour & complimentary refreshments
(All proceeds go to the fauna chimpanzee lifetime care fund)
Please reserve by phone: 450-658-1844 or email at gloria .fauna@videotron.ca

C'est avec grand plaisir que nous invitons tous nos supporters à venir visiter les jardins de la Fondation Fauna à l'occasion des Journées Portes Ouvertes 2011. Trois dates sont prévues, lesquelles coïncideront, nous osons l'espérer, avec les moments forts de chaque saison. Nous offrons également des visites à divers moments de chacune de ces journées. La première journée approche à grand pas, soit le samedi 14 mai prochain.
Réservez votre place dès maintenant. N'hésitez pas à communique avec nous pour plus de détails.

Les jardins du sanctuaire
(3802 chemin Bellerive, Carignan, Qc.)
Journées portes ouvertes 2011
~~~~~~~~
Les jardins seront ouverts aux visiteurs Les jours suivants:
· Samedi le 14 Ma1 (départs à 10h00 et à 14h00) :
– beautés éphémères et promenade en forêt

· Samedi le 24 juillet (départs à 10h00, 14h00 et 17h00) :
– grande virée estivale & tournée à la brunante

· Samedi le 17 Septembre (Départs à 10h00 et à 14h00):
-- Beautés tardives: un dernier tour de piste
~~~~~~~~
Entrée: $40. Par personne
(Reçu pour don de charité)
comprend la visite guidée de 3 heures & des rafraîchissements
(Toutes Les sommes recueillies seront versées au fond pour les soins de longue durée des chimpanzés de la fondation)

Prière de réserver au: 450-658-1844 ou par courriel: gloria.fauna@videotron.ca

Enrichment days at the Chimp House / Journées d’enrichissement à la maison des chimpanzés

2011-07-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

On cleaning days and during the week we have fun making room and area enrichment for the Chimps. Isabelle, one of Fauna's chimpanzee caretakers, is the best bed maker and everyone just loves her beds !

Les jours de ménage et à l’occasion au courant de la semaine, nous nous amusons à faire de l’enrichissement pour les chambres et les autres aires de vie. C’est Isabelle, l’une de nos préposées aux animaux, qui fait les meilleurs lits et tous les chimpanzés en raffolent!

Here is what some enrichment looks like..
Voici quelques exemples d’enrichissement :

A party for Pepper& Sue Ellen /Des pièces aménagées pour Pepper et Sue Ellen

This is the outdoor area just to the left of the entrance to the chimphouse, whick we call the mezzanine. It is directly above the observation area.

Voici l’aire extérieure, à gauche de l’entrée de la maison des chimpanzés, que nous appelons la mezzanine. Elle se situe juste au-dessus de l’aire d’observation

Party rooms for Petra & Yoko
Des pièces aménagées pour une fête pour Petra et Yoko.

Curtains and a bed for Pepper in the sky walk overlooking the chimp house entrance, this is one of Pepper's favorite places to just hang out and sleep. I often come in to see Pepper all bundled up with blankets over her head completely asleep...

Des rideaux et un lit pour Pepper dans la passerelle qui surplombe l’entrée de la maison des chimpanzés. C’est l’endroit préféré de Pepper pour passer le temps ou dormir. Je l’y trouve souvent endormie, toute emmaillotée dans ses couvertures.

Tent day for everyone in the back play areas
Journée sous la tente dans les aires de jeux au fond de la maison des chimpanzés.

Princess beds / Des lits dignes d’une princesse.

Photos by /de : Isabelle Alarie

Mayas' Birthday /L’anniversaire de Maya

2011-07-08T14:31:00.008-04:00

It is Maya’s 34th birthday today. Lately, she has been spending time with Petra and and Toby, but she misses Binky a little. I see them gesturing to one another often and grooming through the bars. Binky and Maya have become quite good friends and she does miss him if they are separated for a long period. In the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of gardening going on around the chimp house and Maya loves to lie in the skywalk or sit in the top windows of the chimp house and observe all the action!! She also likes to get mad at anyone who dares drive under her skywalk...Maya loves to clean the windows with soapy water, a little dish mop and occasionally a squeegee, so if you would like to send presents for Maya....cleaning items would be a big hit...or possibly Adopt Maya on her birthday as part of our Adopt a chimp program. http://www.adopt-a-chimp.com/

Maya fête ses 34 ans aujourd’hui. Ces derniers temps, on la retrouve souvent en compagnie de Petra et Toby, mais elle semble s’ennuyer de Binky un petit peu. On les voit se faire signe ou se faire la toilette à travers les barreaux. Binky et Maya se sont vraiment liés d’amitié et il semble lui manquer lorsqu’ils sont séparés pendant un bout de temps. Ces jours-ci Maya se plaît à observer de son poste dans la passerelle le va-et-vient incessant des jardiniers autour de la maison des chimpanzés et elle se fâche dès que quelqu’un s’avise de passer en-dessous de sa passerelle. Maya adore laver les fenêtres à l’eau savonneuse avec son petit manchon à vaisselle ou avec un squeegee, alors si l’envie vous prend de lui offrir un petit quelque chose, elle en sera ravie… Vous pourriez aussi l’adopter dans le cadre de notre programme d’adoption : http://www.adopt-a-chimp.com/

Special Visitors / Des visiteurs particuliers

2011-07-02T14:15:00.000-04:00

In the past couple of months we have had the pleasure of Jo-Anne McArthur and Karol Orzechowski’s visit to Fauna. Karol’s mission on this visit was to film Pepper for the up-coming short film "A day in the life of Pepper". Jo-Anne came to meet up with him and volunteered to take some amazing pictures for us. This past week, Jo-Anne was back to take more pictures for the December issue of Canadian Geographic Wildlife magazine, due out in November.

Here are some of Jo-Anne’s amazing pictures and a link to her web site We Animals. Enjoy..
http://www.weanimals.org/

Au cours des derniers mois, c’est avec plaisir que nous avons reçu la visite de Jo-Anne McArthur and Karol Orzechowski. La visite de Karol avait pour but de filmer Pepper en vue du court-métrage Une journée dans la vie de Pepper qui devrait paraître bientôt. Quant à Jo-Anne, elle est venue rejoindre Karol et a offert de prendre des photos. La semaine dernière, elle revenait prendre d’autres photos, cette fois pour le numéro de Décembre de la revue Canadian Geographic Wildlife, prévue pour novembre prochain.

Voici quelques-unes des magnifiques photos de Jo-Anne et le lien de son site web We Animals. À découvrir.

http://www.weanimals.org/

Rachel

Binky

Gloria serving hot lemon water and honey

A morning trolley with fresh produce

One of Binky's favourite "look at how cute I am" tricks , putting his whole face in the serving port hole. You can see the port hole in the picture above right behind the trolley of fresh produce

Agnes our turkey, Albert our pink pot bellied pig , Willie, Frank and Stubby and Elvis & Yani our roosters

Theo our Olive Baboon

Binky, Spock and Maya/Binky, Spock et Maya

2011-06-20T11:29:00.000-04:00

Here are some nice shots of Binky, Spock and Maya enjoying their time on the islands

Voici quelques clichés de Binky, Spock et Maya s’amusant sur les îles.

Binky and Maya in the background photo by: Kim Belley
Binky et Maya à l’arrière-plan (Photo par : Kim Belley)

Binky and Spock playing chase Photo by: Kim Belley
Binky et Spock se pourchassant Photo par : Kim Belley
Maya on her was back in Photo by: Kim Belley
Maya qui rentre a la maison Photo par : Kim Belley

Fauna Wildlife / La faune du sanctuaire

2011-06-16T12:22:00.000-04:00

More baby geese on the farm this year
De nouveaux petits d’oies à la ferme.

One baby turtle we found under the sky walk
Un bébé de tortue trouvée sous la passerelle.

Dearly Departed / Nos chers disparus

2011-06-13T15:21:00.006-04:00

It is with deep regret that we must announce the passing of our dear sweet Llama Lucy, She will be missed..

C’est avec regret que nous vous annonçons le décès de notre chère lama, Lucy. Elle nous manquera.

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-06-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..

Tracye Jorgensen, Jeff Schimizu&Kathy Bocsi, Vasso Narnos

Yoko making his bed/ Yoko fait son lit

2011-06-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

Yoko just loves a huge bed. The more blankets the better. On cleaning day we had made him a bed fit for a King, it just needed a little minor adjustments..

Yoko adore les grand lits. Plus il y a de couvertures, mieux c’est. Un jour de ménage, on lui a fait un de ces lits très grand format, mais il y manquait sa petite touche personnelle…

Here is Yoko making his amazing bed with extra sheets we left for him to finish up!

Voici Yoko qui complète son lit avec quelques draps de plus que nous lui avions laissés!

Jethro taking a nap/Jethro fait la sieste

2011-06-07T12:16:00.000-04:00

This was taken at about 1pm, just after lunch when the chimp house is usually completely without a sound, because, everyone is usually having a nice peaceful nap. All I could hear was some serious snoring. Jethro was in one of the first night rooms on the top bed, lying sideways with his hands neatly crossed over his chest and his head comfortably lying on the platform..

Cette photo a été prise vers une heure de l’après-midi, heure à laquelle la maison des chimpanzés est généralement silencieuse parce que tout le monde y fait la sieste. On n’ entendait que de sérieux ronflements. Jethro se trouvait dans l’une des premières chambres à coucher, installé sur le lit du haut, les mains croisées sur sa poitrine et la tête posée confortablement sur la plateforme.

Photos by/de : Kim Belley

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-06-06T15:22:00.005-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..

Gil, Roslyn & Joey Kaplansky, Tanya, Carol, Johnny McAleer and the Centre de Bénévolat Rive Sud.

Wish List

2011-06-06T12:24:00.003-04:00

We are also running low on good toys for the chimps, and seeing that summer is coming the usual tables and pools for indoor and outdoor parties are of great need as well. Here are some ideas of things the chimps really enjoy!!

Nous avons aussi besoin de jouets de qualité pour les chimpanzés et, avec l’été qui arrive, les tables et les barbotteuses seront toujours appréciées lors des fêtes extérieures. Voici une liste d’objets qui font vraiment plaisir aux chimpanzés!

http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=2C8B781E-19B9-F369-D938-13E904CA22D2&product_id=25815&src=endeca

http://www.sears.ca/product/tiny-love-spin-ball/632-000815530-567-006

http://www.kvsupply.com/KVVet/productr.asp?pf_id=80878&0=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D9000%26Tree%3D%2CCompleteCatalog&1=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D40000%26Tree%3D%2CEquine&2=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D42500%26Tree%3D%2CStall,+Trailer+%26+Barn&3=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D42511%26Tree%3D%2CStall+Toys&refcode=PRCGRAB&URLCheck=1

http://www.sears.ca/product/my-first-driving-centre/606-000687913-80330

http://www.beyondplay.com/ITEMS/M825.HTM

http://www.sears.ca/product/fisher-price-corn-popper/606-000080820-72011

http://www.sears.ca/product/fisher-price-chatter-telephone/606-000503383-77816

Breville® Ikon 5-speed Juice Fountain

Item #: 110 381 536 10

http://www.sears.ca/product/breville-ikon-5-speed-juice-fountain/611-000019349-BREBJE510XL

Toby &Chance

2011-06-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

Toby and Chance enjoying a sippy cup of orange juice..Toby is one of the Fauna chimpanzees who really enjoys drinking from a straw and does not just rip the cover off and guzzle it down. He even takes the time to remove the straw from a juice box, very gently unwrap it and poke his straw with the pointed end in his juice box and slowly sip it up. Toby has the biggest hands of all the chimp house so it is quite precious to watch him perform such a delicate task without ever failing each time.

Toby et Chance dégustant leur jus d’orange. Toby est le seul des chimpanzés de la Fondation Fauna à aimer boire son jus à l’aide d’une paille plutôt que de simplement arracher le couvercle et tout avaler d’un trait. Il prend même le temps de déballer soigneusement la paille et de l’insérer délicatement, bout pointu vers le bas, et de tranquillement siroter son jus. Comme il est celui qui, de tous nos chimpanzés, a les plus grosses mains, c’est fascinant de le voir réussir chaque fois à manier son carton avec autant de délicatesse.

Photos by/de : Kim Belley

Pepper

2011-06-03T11:29:00.001-04:00

Photo by / de: Kim
Pepper's bed is just under the lookout.

Sue Ellen and Pepper are always the hardest chimps to find in the chimp house at any given moment...on this day I was searching all over for Pepper to give out her lunch bag...she was nowhere to be seen..then I had a flash of one special place she just loves that I had overlooked...and there she was all comfortable on her couch with blankets in the cement tunnel under the lookout on Billy Jo's Island ...not an easy task to trek over the board walk, between the evergreens and the highly electric fence...but it was the last place I had to look.

Sue Ellen et Pepper sont celles qu'on a toujours le plus de difficulté à retrouver dans la maison des chimpanzés. Ce jour-là, je cherchais Pepper pour lui remettre son sac à lunch, mais elle demeurait introuvable. Tout à coup, j'ai eu l'idée d'aller voir dans un de ses recoins préférés- et c'est là que je l'ai trouvée, bien installée sur son divan, dans le tunnel sous le promontoire de l'île de Billy Jo. Pas évident de se frayer un chemin le long du trottoir, entre les conifères et la clôture électrifiée, mais j'ai atteint mon but...

Photo by / de : Kim

The first time Pepper ventured out on the island in 2006 that was the place she went to check out immediately. It was pouring rain and Pepper chose to stay out all night in her tunnel all quite and content. We had thrown three garbage bags of blankets over the fence for her to keep her warm and she quietly crept out and came and got them all one by one. The following week when we went in to clean she had made herself an amazing bed with the plastic bags strategically placed under her blankets to keep her warm. She had also been doing some cleaning with a toy plastic shovel she found. It was priceless and Pepper was one happy chimpanzee, so I guess that is all that counts!

La première fois que Pepper s'est aventurée sur l'île, en 2006, elle s'est immédiatement dirigée vers cet endroit. Il pleuvait à boire debout, mais c'est avec bonheur qu'elle y a passé toute la nuit, bien à l'abri. Pour qu'elle soit bien au chaud, nous lui avions lançé trois sacs pleins de couvertures qu'elle est venue récupérer un à un. La semaine suivante, en nettoyant le tunnel, nous y avons trouvé le lit qu'elle s'était confectionné en mettant les sacs de plastique sous les couvertures. Quelle ingéniosité! Elle avait même pris la peine de nettoyer l'espace avec une petite pelle en plastique. Il va sans dire que Pepper sait s'organiser pour être heureuse, et c'est tant mieux!

Photo by : Kim

R&R Action Alert /Alerte-action du Projet R&R

2011-05-14T12:02:00.006-04:00

NEAVS President, Dr. Theo Capaldo, attended a special screening of the upcoming HBO documentary, Project Nim, produced by Simon Chinn, directed by Oscar-winner James Marsh, and based on the book The Chimp Who Would be Human by Elizabeth Hess. NEAVS was invited by Bob Ingersoll, director of Mindy’s Memory, a sanctuary for monkeys. Ingersoll played a major role in Nim’s life from the day he was abandoned by the research project on which the film focuses to the day he died. Ingersoll along with other people featured in the film led a Q&A when the film was over.

Click below to read more:
http://www.releasechimps.org/2011/05/06/news/#axzz1MLKrMB4t

Alerte-action du Projet R&R

Avant-première du documentaire Project NIM

La Dr. Theo Capaldo, présidente de la NEAVS, a assisté récemment à l’avant-première du documentaire Project NIM de la chaîne HBO, une production de Simon Chinn dirigée par James Marsh, lauréat d’un Oscar, et inspirée du livre d’Elizabeth Hess, The Chimp Who Would be Human. La NEAVS a été invitée par l’entremise de Bob Ingersoll, directeur du sanctuaire pour singes Mindy’s Memory. M. Ingersoll fait partie de ceux qui se sont occupés de Nim jusqu’à la fin de ses jours, après qu’il ait été abandonné par les responsables du projet de recherche qui fait l’objet de ce documentaire. M. Ingersoll a d’ailleurs participé à la période de questions qui a suivi la présentation du film.

Pour en savoir davantage, cliquez sur le lien qui suit (en anglais seulement) :

http://www.releasechimps.org/2011/05/06/news/#axzz1MLKrMB4t

Project R&R Action Alert

2011-05-09T05:52:00.000-04:00

The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R.1513/S.810) has been re-introduced in the 112th Congress! The bill has the leadership of Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) as well as 42 cosponsors already signed on in the U.S. House and Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in the U.S. Senate.

During the last Congressional session, the Great Ape Protection Act (GAPA) had 161 cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and six cosponsors in the Senate......

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

http://www.releasechimps.org/mission/change-laws/the-great-ape-protection-act/#axzz1JQS495Dl

Le projet de loi intitulé The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H.R.1513/S.810) vient d’être réintroduit au 112e Congrès américain! Ce projet de loi est parrainé par le représentant à la Chambre par Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) ainsi que 42 co-parrains ayant déjà donné leur appui et par les sénatrices Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME) et les sénateurs Bernie Sanders (I-VT) et Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

Lors de la dernière session du Congrès américain, le projet de loi GAPA (Great Ape Protection Act) avait obtenu l’appui de 161 membres de la Chambre des représentants et de 6 membres du Sénat américain......

Pour en savoir plus (en anglais): http://www.releasechimps.org/mission/change-laws/the-great-ape-protection-act/#ixzz1JtlX6nD3
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

http://www.releasechimps.org/mission/change-laws/the-great-ape-protection-act/#axzz1JQS495Dl

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-05-08T14:36:00.001-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..
Dr. Theodora Capaldo, Evelyn Antypowich, Maureen & Neil D. S. Westoll, Joyce Leveno, Ana Haworth-Duke

Binky & his light stick /Binky et son baton lumineux

2011-05-07T13:01:00.001-04:00

One morning after cleaning and enriching the rooms for the chimps, we had given Binky a light stick. He just loved it. Like all the others here at Fauna, he had to do his taste test first, and then he could enjoy the colors once he realized it was not fun to eat. Binky was totally entertaining us and he knew it; the more we laughed at his cute antics, the more he would do it. He was waving the flashing stick around and then he would jump up, look at us, sit down quickly and put it right to his eyes and laugh. This lasted as long as he had an audience. When we had to go back to work, he cracked the stick in two, looked inside to see if we had hidden any treats and then, off he went! What a guy…

Taste testing... / Il y a des gâteries?

One very funny Bub...look at that smile!! / Quelle sourire !!

Un matin, après le nettoyage des pièces, on a offert à Binky un bâton lumineux. Il en était ravi. Comme le font toujours les chimpanzés, il a commencé par y goûter puis, ayant constaté que ce n’était pas bon à manger, il s’est intéressé au jeu des couleurs. C’est alors que le spectacle a commencé. Il était très fier de lui et plus on riait, plus il faisait le pitre, brandissant le bâton un peu partout, s’élançant, nous regardant, se rasseyant puis dirigeant le jet lumineux dans ses yeux en riant. Ce manège a duré aussi longtemps qu’il a eu son auditoire. Quand nous avons dû reprendre le travail, il a cassé le bâton en deux, a vérifié à l’intérieur pour voir si on y avait caché des gâteries, puis est reparti! Quel numéro…

Maya & Binky

2011-05-06T13:28:00.000-04:00

Maya has always been a quiet chimp since her arrival. She never plays much and rarely interacted even with Spock and Sophie in the very beginning. She has always been a lower ranking chimp, even during her zoo days, where she was much of a loner. Slowly but surely, she has been gently emerging from her shell and is beginning to enjoy her time with others. Most recently, I noticed it more with her being with Binky. Binky loves to play tickle and chase and is relentless when he wants someone to play, which is such an endearing quality. Last week, I was privileged enough to witness a very special moment between those two.

Depuis son arrivée à la Fondation, Maya a toujours été plutôt réservée. Elle joue très peu et au début elle n’avait pas beaucoup d’interactions, même avec Spock et Sophie. Comme elle a toujours occupé un rang peu élevé dans la hiérarchie, même lorsqu’elle était au zoo, elle se montre plutôt solitaire. Mais, petit à petit, elle a commencé à sortir de sa bulle et à profiter de la compagnie de ses pairs. Récemment, j’ai remarqué qu’elle passait plus de temps avec Binky, qui lui, adore jouer à chatouille ou à se pourchasser. Et quand Binky veut jouer, il n’en démord pas, ce qui est un de ses traits de caractères les plus attachants. La semaine dernière, j’ai eu le plaisir d’asister à une scène des plus amusantes entre ces deux-là.

Just off the kitchen area is a series of three rooms that everyone loves to be in, especially Binky and Rachel. Last week it was home for Maya, Binky and Spock. Just as I came from our walk in fridge , I could hear chimp laughter coming from the side rooms; so I slowly walked over and crouched down and was amazed to see Binky and Maya sitting face to face, Binky holding Mayas lower jaw with one hand and his mouth wide open on her head and his other hand on her belly. Both their bellies were jiggling from all the laughter. Maya had a play face on that I had never before seen. It was quite touching to see how Binky with much time and effort was able to eventually get Maya to laugh so freely.

Tout près de la cuisine, il y a trois pièces qui sont les préférées de tous, mais surtout de Binky et de Rachel. La semaine dernière, c’est Maya, Binky et Spock qui s’y trouvaient. En sortant de la pièce réfrigérée, j’entendais rire de ce côté-là et je suis allée voir ce qui s’y passait. Je me suis approchée doucement en m’accroupissant et j’ai aperçu Binky et Maya assis face-à-face et Binky qui tenait le menton de Maya d’une main, la bouche grande ouverte sur sa tête, et l’autre main sur son ventre. Tous deux se tordaient de rire et Maya arborait un air de plaisir que je ne lui avais jamais vu auparavant. J’ai été profondément touchée de constater que Binky avait enfin réussi, au terme de nombreux efforts, à faire rire Maya avec autant d’abandon.

Chimpanzee laughter / Le rire chez les chimpanzés

2011-05-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

We often talk about the chimps laughing in our newsletters or on the blog, and to someone who does not know that chimpanzees do laugh, this sound a little peculiar. However, it is the most amazing thing to hear. It is a very soft sound; it sounds a bit like someone taking quick consecutive little breaths out loud. It is most often done with an open mouth and even sometimes with a closed mouth and quick breathing through the nose...It is quite surprising how long the chimps can laugh for, when we humans try to do it for that long we feel like fainting.

Here is a perfect example of some amazing chimp laughter between Binky and Spock. Notice how they tap each other on the head and hold hands. At one point we can only see Spock bent over his little bum in the air, he is actually holding on to Binky's toes with his mouth all the while holding his leg and laughing at the same time.

Certains pourraient être surpris lorsque nous faisons allusion au rire des chimpanzés dans nos communications. Et pourtant, le rire fait bel et bien partie de leur mode d’expression. C’est un rire bien particulier, très doux, qui ressemble au bruit d’une respiration courte et saccadée. Parfois ils rient la bouche ouverte, mais parfois aussi la bouche fermée, en respirant rapidement par le nez. Il est surprenant de voir la durée d’un accès de rire chez le chimpanzé; un humain pris d’un accès de rire aussi prolongé s’évanouirait sûrement.

Voici l’exemple parfait d’une bonne risée partagée par Binky et Spock. Remarquez leur façon de se taper sur la tête et de se tenir les mains. Là où on aperçoit Spock le fessier en l’air, il a pris les doigts de pied de Binky dans sa bouche et il lui tient la jambe en riant.

Sue Ellen enjoying a Mango /Sue Ellen déguste une mangue

2011-05-01T12:04:00.000-04:00

Everyone had received their lunch bags and were off quietly eating their snacks and all I could hear was Sue Ellen squeaking with pleasure the whole time she was eating her mango…I was able to film her enjoying the last bit of the big juicy pit..she is sitting in the tunnel door way in her bed and you can notice her tilt her head and look out the door at Pepper gathering up some snow quickly and rushing back in from the cold...

Alors que tous avaient reçu leur sac à collation et s’affairaient à le déguster, on pouvait entendre Sue Ellen gémir de plaisir en dévorant sa mangue. J’ai réussi à la filmer au moment où elle achevait d’en déguster le gros noyau juteux. On l’aperçoit assise dans son lit à l’entrée de la passerelle, la tête penchée et observant le va-et-vient de Pepper qui ramasse de la neige puis rentre en toute vitesse.

Today is Toby's Birthday/C’est l’anniversaire de Toby

2011-05-01T11:04:00.010-04:00

Toby is 34 years old today! Toby a 34 ans aujourd’hui!

We invite you to read Tobys' bio to get a good feel of who this very special guys is, and possibly send him some of his favorite items like sunglasses and scrunchies as a birthday gift. A donation in his name is another great gift idea. You can even take advantage of our Adopt a Chimp, chimp chums program to adopt Toby and possibly one of Tobys' special girls Maya or Rachel for someone special in your life or just as a gift to yourself!!

Pour connaître un peu mieux ce charmant bonhomme qu’est Toby, nous vous invitons à lire sa biographie et, si le cœur vous en dit, à lui faire parvenir quelques-uns de ses objets favoris, comme des lunettes de soleil, et des attache-cheveux. Ou si vous préférez, vous pouvez faire un don en son nom, ou encore, l’adopter, lui ou une de ses compagnes comme Maya ou Rachel par exemple, par le biais de notre programme d’adoption (Adopt-a-chimp), en votre nom ou au nom de quelqu’un qui vous est cher.

Toby has been spending most of his time with Chance lately and they are enjoying each others company. They seem content to just lie around together touching toes and enjoying long secessions of grooming. When Chance is around, he does not leave her side for a minute. He barely eats, we have to run around the chimp house with bananas and nuts and make sure he eats something during his love fest. He is very protective of Chance and will not tolerate any human interaction. He gets extremely agitated if we do, so we wait for her swell to be done with then if we are lucky we may be given the okay by Toby to give her a little special attention!!

Toby passe beaucoup de temps en présence de Chance ces derniers temps. Ils se contentent de se prélasser en se frottant les orteils de temps à autre ou en passant de longs moments à se faire la toilette. Quand Chance est présente, Toby ne la quitte pas un seul instant, à un point tel qu’il ne mange pas à moins que nous le suivions un peu partout pour lui offrir des bananes ou des noix. Il se montre très possessif à son égard et ne tolère pas la moindre intrusion humaine dans leur intimité. Comme il devient très agité si nous osons approcher Chance, nous préférons attendre la fin de son rut, alors qu’avec un peu de chance, Toby nous accordera la permission de nous occuper un peu de sa belle.

Happy Birthday Toby!!! Bonne Fête Toby!

Rachel

2011-04-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

This is one of Rachel's favorite places to be in the morning..The pathway to travel from the chimp house side of the sanctuary to the farm side goes around the chimp house building....The chimps can see all the employees going from one area to another and when they work around the building, as well..Rachel especially loves to sit on the banister closest to the path way and watch everyone arrive and she can also see us coming into the chimp house, so we are most often greeted by Rachel first!

Voici l'un des endroits favoris de Rachel le matin. Le chemin qui mène du côté de la maison des chimpanzés jusqu'à la ferme fait tout le tour du bâtiment de la maison des chimpanzés... Les chimpanzés peuvent voir tous les employés qui y circulent et y travaillent. Rachel aime bien s'asseoir sur la rampe près de la promenade et regarder tous ceux qui arrivent. Elle peut également nous voir entrer dans la maison des chimpanzés; c'est souvent elle qui nous accueille!

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-04-01T12:05:00.000-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..
Linda Belanger, Dale Hepburn, Marina Dib, Alex Ford, Noelle Reas

Wedding couple pays tribute to Fauna / De jeunes mariés rendent hommage à la Fondation Fauna

2011-04-01T11:48:00.000-04:00

Christina Marie Phelps & Nathaniel Jacob Stow featured Rachel and Jethro at their wedding with a table to pay tribute to them and the Fauna Foundation...

A message from Christina and Nathaniel,

"We had our wedding in which we proudly displayed a table with our two adopted chimpanzees "Jethro" and "Rachel" in frames as well as their bios, contact info of the Fauna Foundation, and the certificates and letter from Gloria in frames! Our party organizer/architect, Phil Bloom, put a small chimpanzee on our wedding cake, knowing that it would also reference our adoption. My MC crew drew all our guests' attention to the display, when all were seated. I am hoping to have educated all my guests of your marvelous organization and that you will be receiving more adoptions/donations in the near future.

Thank you so much to you Cindy, Gloria Grow, and everyone at the Fauna Foundation! »

Christina Marie Phelps

À l'occasion de leur mariage, Christina Marie Phelps et Nathaniel Jacob Stow ont monté une table en l'honneur de Rachel, de Jethro et de la Fondation Fauna.

Un message de Christiana et Nathaniel,

«Lors de notre mariage, nous avons voulu signaler notre engagement envers nos chimpanzés adoptifs, Rachel et Jethro, en installant une table avec leurs photos, des copies de leurs biographies, les coordonnées de la Fondation Fauna, les certificats d'adoption et la lettre de Gloria! L'organisateur de la cérémonie, Phil Bloom, a même décoré notre gâteau de mariage d'un petit chimpanzé pour souligner l'adoption et les animateurs se sont assurés d'attirer l'attention de nos invités sur cet étalage. J'espère bien avoir réussi à sensibiliser tous nos invités à la cause des chimpanzés en leur faisant connaître votre merveilleuse organisation et j'ose espérer que plusieurs d'entre eux vous apporteront leur soutien en faisant un don ou en souscrivant une adoption.

Nos sincères remerciements à Cindy, à Gloria Grow et à toute la Fondation Fauna!»

Christina Marie Phelps

Fauna in the news

2011-03-27T13:33:00.000-04:00

Poaching on Fauna’s Natural Reserve...
Braconnage sur le territoire de la Réserve naturelle du Ruisseau-Robert...

The following article was published in our local paper.

L’article qui suit a paru dans le Journal de Chambly récemment

http://actualite.monteregieweb.com/ecolocopie/JDC/20110311/#/2/

English version below..

In Memory of Coyote

By: Gloria Grow

We thought of him as the Fauna coyote. He visited everyday. He was young and slender, content to eat the fruits and vegetables we put out for our animals. Coyote never did anyone harm. No one was ever attacked. No one was ever killed, except one day. A Fauna employee was out running at lunch and saw him. He was curled up under a tree. Taking a closer look led to the reason why he would be there in mid day and not stir. He had a snare around his neck. It had cut into his flesh, exposing muscle and bone. The wire had been gnawed free of whatever had grounded it in place -- its frayed end testament to Coyote’s powerful jaws and even more powerful will to survive. He had given up after who knows how long a struggle. He curled up under the tree and let go of life. Fauna’s surrounding Natural Reserve is 200 acres of land to protect Quebec’s native wildlife and flowers. Still we weren’t able to protect Coyote from the wanton desire of someone who wanted to kill him -- with no concern that his method would bring Coyote pain and fear and long suffering before death released him.

When I saw Coyote, I saw someone no different than so many wonderful dogs I have had in my life. I recognized from his compelling similarity to them that Coyote’s only crime was that he did not belong to somebody, that ownership had not domesticated him to be at the command of a human. As I touched him, without any collar or tags to prove his ownership, I knew I was touching an ancient ancestor to the many dogs I have shared my life with. I knew I was looking at someone who would have grown and learned more each day about his own survival – like where he could find berries to eat at certain times of the year or how the rabbits could escape him by fleeing under a building. I saw in this being called Coyote the wild and free and devastating beauty of the natural world...a world that Fauna and everyone should be prepared to prize, protect and preserve.

Because of his need to survive, Coyote was judged by someone who failed to appreciate Coyote’s role in the natural cycle. That someone set out to destroy him. The question remains: why? Was it because his pelt would bring a small amount money? Because his death would make his killer feel powerful? Or was it because of the misguided notion that the only way to be with nature is to destroy all parts of it that don’t serve humans? I will never understand.

We won’t get to see Coyote out there any more and we all grieve this. Even while we are surrounded by nearly a hundred rescued animals for whom we care, we will still feel the sting of his loss. Unlike the rescued residents of Fauna who are forced to live a life of captivity, we all felt assured by Coyote’s presence -- assured that while we tended to those whose freedom had been lost, Coyote was there…free and wild and living in harmony with his natural world. Until, that is, that one day when someone for some reason decided to kill him.

Today is Sue Ellens' Birthday / l'anniversaire de Sue Ellen

2011-03-17T14:44:00.000-04:00

Today, March 17^th, is Sue Ellen's 43rd birthday; why not purchase an Adopt-A-Chimp package in Sue Ellen's name as a gift for someone special! Sue Ellen is such a sweet little thing. She loves her cooked meals and squeals with pleasure whenever she is eating. She loves pretty coloured scarves, purses and necklaces that she drapes around her belly and carries around, sometime for days. And of course, she is one of the best bed- makers of the entire chimp house.

Aujourd’hui, le 17 mars, Sue Ellen célèbre son 43^e anniversaire de naissance. Pourquoi ne pas souligner l‘occasion en souscrivant à notre programme d’adoption au nom d’une personne qui vous est chère? Sue Ellen est si charmante! Elle adore ses repas chauds, qu’elle déguste avec enthousiasme jusqu’à la dernière bouchée. Elle raffole des jolis foulards aux couleurs vives, des sacs à main et des colliers qu’elle enroule autour de sa taille et qu’elle porte parfois pendant plusieurs jours. Et bien sûr, elle est parmi ceux qui font les meilleurs lits de toute la maison des chimpanzés.

Regis

2011-03-14T14:49:00.001-04:00

Here we have Regis enjoying a nap all sprawled out, with his legs comfortably placed on the ladder.
Regis faisant la sieste, étendu de tout son long et les jambes bien installées sur l’échelle.

From the Monkey House / Les petits Singes

2011-03-14T13:57:00.001-04:00

Sophie our little capuchin and Pougie our crab-eating macaque
Sophie notre petit capuchin et Pougie notre macaque mangeur de crab

Out like a lite....L’heure du dodo...

Sophies favorite place to sleep..on a warm little Pougie!! / L’endroit préféré de Sophie pour dormir...sur un petit Pougie tout chaud!!

Newton & Darla our Rhesus Macaques
Newton & Darla nos Macaques Rhesus

Newton enjoying his enrichment ... /Newton qui découvre ses activités d’enrichissement ...

Darla enjoying the view.../Darla admire le paysage...

Sophie and her breakfast.../Sophie et son petit dejeuner...

photos/video by/de: Isabelle Alarie

Spock & Chance

2011-03-14T12:25:00.000-04:00

Spock and Chance have been having a good old time playing and chasing each other through the bars. Here is a little video of them both enjoying a little tickle and if you listen closely you can hear Spock laughing.

Spock et Chance ne manquent jamais une occasion de jouer et de se pourchassser de chaque côté des grillages. La video ci-dessous les montre qui s'amusent en se chatouillant. En écoutant attentivement, on entend Spock ricaner.

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

2011-03-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..
Evelyn Antypowich, Sonia Boulet & Roger Roy, Purple Passion Project Circle of Giving

Construction Enrichment / Journée-thème: la construction

2011-03-01T12:59:00.000-05:00

One of our theme days was Construction Week...the chimps really loved this one. That morning, everyone was walking around with their own tools. Pepper had her tape measure around her wrist and Chance was carrying around a ratchet set. The tools look so real that Lynda (chimp house cook) called us on the walkie talkie to let us know that Spock had somehow found a screwdriver and was trying to unscrew all our locks on the caging.. It was quite funny, however, we assured her that it was all very safe and that the tools were all plastic...

Une de nos récentes journées thématiques portait sur le domaine de la construction, thème que les chimpanzés ont tout simplement adoré. Un matin, chacun se promenait avec ses outils. Pepper portait son ruban à mesurer au poignet et Chance traînait son jeu de clés à cliquet. Les jouets sont tellement convaincants que Linda, la cuisinière de la maison des chimpanzés, nous a alertés que Spock avait un tournevis en sa possession et qu'il s'affairait à dévisser les verroux des cages... Nous avons bien rigolé, après l'avoir rassurée qu'il s'agissait de jouets en plastique et qu'il n'y avait aucun danger.
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Photo by/par: Kim Belley
Construction enrichment being made...all supervised by Toby and Maya in the background!!

Les préparatifs pour la journée de construction, supervisés par Toby et Maya à l'arrière-plan.
Photo by/par: Kim Belley

Helping hand from the Chimps/Un coup de main des chimpanzés

2011-03-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

Binky by: Gloria Grow

Last week after cleaning we realized we lost a squeegee!! And that can only mean one thing, the chimps have it in their play area and depending on the individuals that are there, if we're lucky we may get it back intact. I found it hanging off the top platform in one of the back play areas with Binky sitting under it; patiently waiting to see who would come and try to retrieve it. He kindly took it off the top for me and put it on the floor slowly, stuck it under the caging and waited for me to take it. He had a huge play face on and was jumping and smacking his hands on the ground to play with me and the squeegee of course. As soon as I asked him to have it he took off running with it and dropped it in the back corner and came back to play. It was almost as if to say.--- if the squeegee is not there then she will stop asking me for it and play with me instead---so I played a game of chase with the Bub until he had his fill, then asked him for my squeegee again, but he was no longer interested by then...Spock and Jethro were with Binky and I new that Spock would gladly get my tool for me so I called my co-workers over so they could witness the very sweet Spock retrieve it for me. Because of his training at the Quebec City Zoo, Spock literally understands almost everything we say to him in French, even very specific items he will hand back to us if requested. Spock knew what I was asking for, because, he had been listening from the front rooms the whole time. He then popped his head out of the bottom play area door with an apple in hand, looked at me, walked over to the squeegee, picked it up and brought it right over to where Binky, Jethro and I were sitting. All three boys were seriously trying to figure out how to get it under the caging without breaking it. It worked; we got it out and you could see that the boys were quite proud of themselves for helping out...Team work!

Jethro by/par : Frank Noelker

La semaine dernière, à la fin de la journée de nettoyage, il manquait un «squeegee»! Ce qui voulait dire qu'un des chimpanzés s'en était emparé dans l'aire de jeu et que nos chances de le récupérer dépendaient de qui s'y trouvait à ce moment-là. Je l'ai repéré, suspendu à la plate-forme du haut, avec Binky assis juste en-dessous et attendant patiemment de voir qui viendrait le reprendre. Il eut la gentillesse de le déposer sur le sol lentement puis de le glisser sous le grillage pour que je puisse le prendre. Il avait un air espiègle et plein d'anticipation à l'idée que nous allions nous amuser avec le dit «squeegee», il sautait partout et donnait de grands coups sur le sol. Évidemment, dès que je lui ai demandé de me le donner, il s'est enfui avec, l'a laissé tomber dans un coin à l'écart et est revenu vers moi pour jouer. C'est comme s'il s'était dit: si le «squeegee» n'est pas là, elle va arrêter de me le demander et elle va jouer avec moi. Alors on a joué à se pourchasser jusqu'à ce qu'il en ait assez, puis je le lui ai redemandé. Mais il avait perdu tout intérêt. Comme Spock et Jethro étaient avec Binky ce moment-là, et sachant que mon cher Spock se ferait un plaisir de me rendre service, j'ai fait venir mes collègues pour qu'elles le voient à l'oeuvre. Spock a vécu au Jardin zoologique de la Ville de Québec et il comprend presque tout ce qu'on lui dit en français, même lorsqu'on utilise des termes très précis. Ayant assisté à la scène avec Binky, il savait ce que je voulais. Quand il est apparu dans l'embrasure de la porte, une pomme à la main, il m'a regardée, s'est dirigé vers le «squeegee», l'a pris et l'a ramené là où j'étais assise avec Binky et Jethro. Les trois compagnons se sont ensuite affairés pendant un moment à trouver une façon de le passer sous le grillage sans le briser. Cela a marché! Et il fallait voir à quel point ils étaient fiers de leur travail d'équipe...

Spock by/par : Sharon Stewart