Amazing & Touching Picture Of Chimpanzees Mourning One Of Their Own (Nov Issue National Geographic)

[kpete]

The November issue of National Geographic magazine features a moving photograph of chimpanzees watching as one of their own is wheeled to her burial. Since it was published, the picture and story have gone viral, turning up on websites and TV shows and in newspapers around the world. For readers who’d like to know more, here’s what I learned as I interviewed the photographer, Monica Szczupider.

On September 23, 2008, Dorothy, a female chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of congestive heart failure. A maternal and beloved figure, Dorothy had spent eight years at Cameroon’s Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, which houses and rehabilitates chimps victimized by habitat loss and the illegal African bushmeat trade.

After a hunter killed her mother, Dorothy was sold as a "mascot" to an amusement park in Cameroon. For the next 25 years she was tethered to the ground by a chain around her neck, taunted, teased, and taught to drink beer and smoke cigarettes for sport. In May 2000 Dorothy—obese from poor diet and lack of exercise—was rescued and relocated along with ten other primates. As her health improved, her deep kindness surfaced. She mothered an orphaned chimp named Bouboule and became a close friend to many others, including Jacky, the group’s alpha male, and Nama, another amusement-park refugee.


more:
http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/10/the-story-behind-our-photo-of-grieving-chimps.html

[Faygo Kid]

1. The milk of "human" kindness is not exclusive to us, it seems. How very sad.

The longer I live the more I realize that some chimps are much more equal than others, and far more worthy of life than primates who seek only to destroy.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I have seen this. It is very sad.

[rhett o rick]

3. This was posted earlier and got some very warm responses and some very weird responses. Good luck.nt

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. I have seen this pic a few times, but never knew the back story.

Thank you for posting this. RIP Dorothy. :(

[inna]

5. Love your (new?) sig BTW, Kpete. Your big fan, i. (nt)

[BlueJazz]

6. They must be Democrats