Today we are celebrating the birth of a baby by Mahisho in the Kabirizi family. Innocent took some lovely photos which can be found here at the Official Virunga website
But we are also mourning the death of 8 year old Muchana at the St Louis Zoo – she was found dead tangled in her ropes.
And 32 year old Kambula at Texas Zoo who had an untreatable condition and was euthanized
We are also deeply shocked by the savage chimpanzee attack in Connecticut. Listening to the 911 call is terrifying I am not surprised that it took this particularly horrific mauling of a woman last week by the pet chimpanzee, for the USA to take immediate action in banning trade in apes. Its not the first time it has happened, over 100 people have been attacked by chimpanzees in USA (29 are children) but this incident led to the swift drafting of new legislation and the passing of a vote to ban interstate trade of apes and monkeys. It’s a pity that it took such a tragic incident to close a loop ion US legislation which bans the importation of apes for pets, but did not ban the transport for the purpose of sale of apes once in the USA. Now that the vote has passed (overwhelmingly 323-95), and will make it difficult for people to access apes like chimpanzees and gorillas which are sought for household companions.
Hopefully this incident which led to the killing of the 14 year old chimpanzee named Travis, will discourage people from seeking baby apes for pets. One consequence of ape trade is the tragic escalation in number of orphaned apes now in captivity in at JACK, Limbe, Cercopan, Tacugama and Lola ya Bonobo.
Ironically, someone called me yesterday asking if I could help find a baby mountain gorilla for a member of the royalty in one of the Arab states who wanted a pet. I know that Vanessa would agree with me when I told them why it was such a bad idea! Somehow though, I fear that this person will try to get a gorilla through illegal means.
Donations made here are
Feb 9th Jesse W USD 20.00
4 Comments
The Captive Primate Safety Act passed in the House of Representatives, but it still needs to pass the Senate to become law. Last year when we were lobbying our Congressional members for passage, it was held up in the Senate by one man who was clearly in the pocket of pharmaceutical companies.
Now, Senator Barbara Boxer plans to introduce a companion bill this year along with U.S. Senator David Vitter. Reportedly, the legislation would exempt Cebus monkeys that are used to help severely disabled individuals. So, it’s not perfect but if it passes it will close a dangerous loophole in our laws.
U.S. citizens, it is time to lobby your Senators to pass the Captive Primate Safety Act. Call them, write to them, make sure they know that you support the Act.
s.
While vacationing in DC, I saw a pretty long segment on their local news on Virunga and the new baby. I was so excited to see the happy news of a new birth and the fact that a local station was airing about the park.
I love Boxer! I hope she can get this legislation done and down this year. I hope that no more animals will suffer in the future from being held as companion animals.
Honestly when will people learn? Sad to hear of the other gorilla deaths although….Kambula lived a fairly reasonable life! I hope he was happy…
The recent chimp attack did not lead to drafting of this legislation. It was sort of sitting around being ignored until the tragedy brought the issue to the public eye. It’s a shame something bad had to happen to give the bill a push in the right direction.