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Roadside zoos, accredited zoos, and circuses market themselves as places for families—while destroying the family bonds of the nonhuman animals they hold captive. Donate today [[link removed]] to help fund our Michigan chimpanzee rights case and create a world where the freedom of nonhuman animals is respected and protected.
Almost eight years ago, a chimpanzee was born at a roadside zoo in Wallace, Michigan called the DeYoung Family Zoo. Her mother had been sent there after spending years at a notorious chimpanzee breeding facility called the Missouri Primate Foundation (the focus of the film Chimp Crazy).
Several months into this chimpanzee’s life, a nonhuman primate specialist with the USDA’s APHIS Center for Animal Welfare visited the facility in response to a complaint. There, as shown in records we obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, the USDA representative learned the chimpanzee’s mother had been repeatedly burying her infant in the bedding and leaving her there, according to the DeYoung Family Zoo. Understandably, this caused the infant to become deeply distressed.
The DeYoung Family Zoo told the USDA representative that, after consulting with other facilities that had experience with chimpanzee breeding (i.e., other facilities that deprive chimpanzees of their freedom), they decided to hand-raise the infant themselves. The mother, they believed, was too inexperienced. The USDA representative made note of the situation in her report with seeming approval—and, as with so many USDA reports, that was that.
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Captivity has deprived these two chimpanzees–referred to as Prisoners “B” and “C” in our lawsuit against the DeYoung Family Zoo because their names, if they have them, are unknown–of the relationship they should have had as mother and child and as members of a dynamic chimpanzee society. Had they been born free, t his time in their lives would have been defined by protection and play, learning and exploration, freedom and curiosity. Instead, it was one more trauma.
Our lawsuit in Michigan demands recognition of the right to liberty of the seven chimpanzees held in captivity at the DeYoung Family Zoo, followed by their release to a sanctuary accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. Six of the world’s most renowned experts on chimpanzee cognition and behavior have submitted affidavits and declarations in support of this case, demonstrating not only that chimpanzees possess the autonomy and self-determination that allow them to choose how they will live their own emotionally, socially, and intellectually rich lives, but also that DFZ is an unacceptable place for such cognitively complex beings.
We expect a hearing in this case to be scheduled soon. Like all our cases, this is about more than any one legal battle. It’s about deepening respect for freedom and equality and moving beyond exploitation and oppression. If you can, please donate to support our unique work and help nonhuman animals like the DeYoung Prisoners gain access to justice [[link removed]] .
Thank you John,
The NhRP
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The NhRP is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation (Tax ID #: 04-3289466). It is solely through your donations that we can continue to work for the recognition and protection of fundamental rights for nonhuman animals.
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