"Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History" Captive Chimps' Sad Lives on Film

[leftchick]

:cry:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061030/ap_en_ot/ap_on_tv_chimpanzees

The documentary, which on Sunday night launches the 25th season of PBS' "Nature" (see local listings), explores the sad story of generations of captive chimps — our very genetically close relatives, with almost 99 percent of the same DNA as humans.

"I try not to tell people what they should feel or think in the film," the filmmaker said.

"As I was writing the narration I kept saying, `Just the facts. No comment. Don't get emotional,' and again when I was reading it, the same, because you don't need to. Let people decide what they want to decide. Just present the story, present the characters, which are the chimps," Argo said.

Gloria Grow doesn't have any intention of being objective. Her eyes often rimmed with tears earlier this year as she accompanied Argo to a series of press conferences and interviews to discuss the documentary.

Grow and her husband, veterinarian Dr. Richard Allan, run the Fauna Foundation, which has become a haven for abused animals, including chimps used in biological research. Even chimps that were once people's pets, or performed to audience laughter in circuses and commercials, can end up in research facilities. Once they get to about five or six years old and can no longer be handled safely they are often dumped in medical laboratories or imprisoned in isolation.



This photo provided by Thirteen/WNET shows Billy Jo, who was a circus chimpanzee before being sold to a research laboratory, as he reaches out for a human touch in a scene from the documentary 'Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History.' The documentary airs, Sunday, Nov. 5, launching the 25th anniversary season of the PBS 'Nature' series. (AP Photo/Thirteen WNET, Cici Clark)

Link to the Fauna Foundation....http://www.faunafoundation.org/ff/

:cry:

[Hugin]

1. I can't watch the movie 'Project X'...

It tears me up inside.

[leftchick]

2. chimps and elephants

humans abuse them more than I can handle. :cry:

[jilln]

3. And every other animal on the planet. (nt)

[Hugin]

5. Isn't it strange that the most dangerous wild animal most humans will ever...

encounter is another human?

[leftchick]

6. yes indeed

and humans are the worst thing to happen to this planet. :(

[Teaser]

4. For primates that *must* be in captivity

for medical research, I've always advocated that we our *obligated* to give them a
naturalistic environment.

It must seem as close to home as possible.

And I'm not a big fan of primate research. The largest animal I'll work on is the frog. But a case can be made for it, I believe, at the least.

So if we are going to put very intelligent animals in captivity, it is incumbent on us to make sure the animal feels as "free" as possible.

The only reason this is not done is because of simple expense, and because it is already so hard to conduct primate research in this country. But I do not believe providing an interesting and stimulating environment for captive animals is going to make all primate research financially unfeasible.