Life at Fauna

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Urgent Action Needed - Baby Chimpanzee on Desperate Houswives

Tonight on ABC - Desperate Housewives episode will be featuring a baby chimpanzee!!

Here is the episode trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheHousewives000#p/a

Please, let ABC know that is not acceptable and that your are dissapointed that they have used a primate in their show, and that you will not be supporting their network if action is not taken.

Write to ABC:

http://abc.go.com/site/contact-us

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Urgent Action Needed-TLC show My Baby Monkey

Please call Eileen O’Neil, the general manager at The Learning Channel at 240-662-2000 and let her know what you think about the show "My Baby Monkey" and then send an email to Jennifer_marburg@discovery.com about how disappointed you are about the show. Please ask them to give the other side of the story before many more monkey lives are ruined!

The show airs on TLC (The Learning Channel) Sunday night

A documentary airing on TLC looks at couples who adopt baby capuchins as children.

If you did not see the Good Morning America segment about My Monkey Baby, here is the link

Monkey Babies: Couples Treat Adopted Monkeys as Children, 'Monkids' - ABC News

Source: abcnews.go.com

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/monkey-babies-couples-treat-adopted-monkids-children/story?id=8723105

Please write to GMA and tell them what you think about their story about the new show "My Monkey Baby"!

I guess they didn't notice how many of the monkeys in the show had NO TEETH or notice the junk food they were being fed, and they most certainly did not talk about the fact that these surrogate monkey children were stolen from their natural mothers! ABC knows better, David Muir has been to Jungle Friends! They need to do another story to undo the damage done by their segment this morning! Please tell them to contact sanctuaries and let us tell our stories! (Kari Bagnall)

This is important, please, take a minute to write a letter. Sanctuaries have already been contacted on how and where to purchase baby monkeys!!

Special Thanks to ABC Dancing with the Strars

Dancing with the Stars was going to using a chimpanzee on it's Oct. 6th show to predict the winner. However, thanks to may e-mail and one especially from Shirley McGreal from IPPL. Executive producer Conrad Green decided to re-cut the package they were to use on the show to remove any footage of the chimpanzee they filmed...! Proof that speaking out does work!!

It is as important now to , please, reach out to ABC to let them know that we appreciate the fact that the segment was pulled....

http://www.nt2099.com/J-ENT/news/american-entertainment/fourth-couple-eliminated-on-dancing-with-the-stars-the-results-show-tuesday-october-6-on-abc/

Here is a copy of the e-mail sent to ABC and their response.

On 10/6/09 8:56 AM, "Shirley McGreal"

Dear Mr. Green,
I hope you are not going to use a performing chimpanzee in your "Dancing with the Stars" show. I don't see any point. Promotion of primates in entertainment only encourages people to see them as objects of ridicule and encourages the primate pet craze which victimizes so many primates pulled from their mothers as babies and forced to live in human households or training camps and conform to human expectations, wear silly clothes, etc. until the owner gets sick of them or badly bitten and tries to dump them on over-filled under-funded sanctuaries.

Please don't exploit chimpanzees. Assuming you pay their "trainers," they are making money off the suffering of innocent animals.

Sincerely yours, Shirley McGreal

Dr. Shirley McGreal, OBE, Chairwoman

E-mail - smcgreal@ippl.org, Web: www.ippl.org Working to Protect All Primates Since 1973

Dear Shirley,

Thank you for your e-mail. We decided to use the chimpanzee for a package today and taped the package last week. While I didn't personally attend the shoot, I'm assured that throughout the shoot the chimpanzee seemed happy and well-treated. We have followed the network's broadcast standards guidelines in the setting up of this shoot and the process was overseen by the American Humane Association. We really have tried everything we can to ensure that we did this the right way and would never have proceeded if we thought that the animal was in distress or being ill-treated.

However, I wasn't aware of the information you have kindly provided about the way that chimpanzees are sometimes treated when trained for entertainment purposes. While I have no reason to believe that the chimp we used was treated in this way I do appreciate your point that showing a chimpanzee on our show may indirectly lead to other chimpanzees being ill-treated in the future. If I had been aware of the information you outlined below I wouldn't have proceeded with the shoot in the first place, so I've decided on balance to re-cut the package we use in tonight's show to remove any footage of the chimpanzee. While I can't undo the fact that we did shoot with a chimpanzee I will be sure we don't do this again in the future.

I hope this allays your concerns and I appreciate you getting in touch with me. We would never intentionally harm an animal in the process of making our show, and I hope you can continue to enjoy Dancing With the Stars in the future. I may send this e-mail to other people who have objected to the use of a chimpanzee on the show... I hope you don't mind. I'm rather pressed for time today and can't craft an individual response to everyone!

Yours sincerely

Conrad Green

Executive Producer

Dancing With the Stars

R&R October eNews

Project R&R Responds to Thai Vaccine Study

On September 24, 2009, results from an HIV vaccine clinical trial (known as the Thai Phase III HIV vaccine study or RV144) revealed a new experimental vaccine to be 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infection. Over 16,000 men and women participated in the trial, which was conducted in Thailand by the Thai Ministry of Public Health and sponsored by the U.S. Army Surgeon General in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

This is welcome news, but according to Dr. Jarrod Bailey, Science Director of Project R&R, optimism should be guarded. Read more...

Great Ape Protection Act Update

70 Cosponsors Now on Bill

Thanks to supporters like you across the country who are contacting their representatives, the Great Ape Protection Act is now up to 70 cosponsors. The bill is currently in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Please call your representative and ask him/her to support H.R. 1326, the Great Ape Protection Act, by cosponsoring the bill. If your rep is already on board as a cosponsor, ask that s/he strongly supports it through to passage. Please also help us get even more cosponsors on board by asking at least two other constituents – your neighbors, friends, family – to contact their Reps as well.

Compassionate Living Raffle Winners are In!

Congratulations to the winners of our 2009 Compassionate Living Raffle, Dawn C. of Halifax, MA and Sandee G. of Chesterville, ME

We thank everyone who participated by buying or selling tickets, raising critical funds for our work to end animal testing and promote non-animal alternatives. Your efforts help prevent the needless suffering of millions of animals and lead to better science for humans.

You can continue to help us meet our year-end fundraising goals by donating here.

12th Anniversary/ 12ième anniversaire

Billy Jo - Donna Rae

October 21st marks the 12th year anniversary of the second group of chimpanzees to arrive at fauna. The very first Chimpanzees in the world with HIV virus to ever be released to Sanctuary; as well as being some of the very first Chimpanzees to be used for HIV research .

Le 21 octobre est le 12ième anniversaire du deuxième groupe de chimpanzés qui sont arrivés à Fauna. Les premiers chimpanzés au monde
atteint du virus du VIH à pouvoir vivre dans un sanctuaire; en plus d'être parmi les premiers chimpanzés à être utilisés pour la recherche en laboratoire sur le VIH.

Pablo, Pepper, Sue Ellen

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Remembering Pablo/À la mémoire de Pablo

Pablo passed away at the very young age of 31 . 8 years has passed already and it seems like just yesterday that he was with us. Pablo like many started off life in a circus, he eventually became aggressive and was sent to a breeding facility, at age 11, he entered biomedical research and remaind there for the next 16 years. Despite all his hardships Pablo was very social with other chimpanzees, his good friends were Tom and Jeannie. Pablo was a gentle soul and he will continue to be greatly missed.

1970-2001

Pablo est décédé au jeune âge de 31 ans. Huit années sont passées depuis et on dirait qu'il était auprès de nous encore hier. Comme plusieurs, Pablo a commencé sa vie dans un cirque. Il devint aggressif et il fut envoyé dans un établissement destiné à la reproduction. À 11 ans, il fit son entrée dans un laboratoire de recherche biomédical ou il vécut pour les seizes prochaines années. Malgré toutes ses épreuves, Pablo était un être très sociable avec les autres chimpanzés. Ses bons amis étaient Tom et Jeannie. Pablo avait une âme charitable et il nous manque énormément.