Should People Be Allowed To Own Chimpanzees As Domestic Animals?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Poll question: Should People Be Allowed To Own Chimpanzees As Domestic Animals?

[Tom Kitten]

1. No

they grow up and become much stronger than you and me combined...

[Smith_3]

2. Depends on wether people are allowed to own pit-bulls. nt

[YOY]

3. Fun to fantasize about but not fun in reality.

n/t

[TexasProgresive]

4. The keeping of exotic animals should be brought

under control. All kinds of animals have been brought into the United States that the keepers decide are too much trouble and get released into the wild - Burmese pythons in the Everglades come to mind. It is bad enough when these invasive species get here by accident, i.e. Argentine Fire Ants, but so much worse when they are brought here for fun and profit.

Maybe it would be OK if these "pets" were only allowed into the country if they are sterile, but my vote is to just stop the exotic trade.

[Greyhound]

5. Not without extensive education on keeping them. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

6. The keeping of all exotics should be brought to an end. It's a HORRIBLE industry.

This goes double for canned hunting. That crap should be a felony.

[Marrah_G]

7. Absolutely not. They are not pets- EVER.

They are wonderful, wild, beautiful animals, who can kill you or anyone else in a matter of minutes if the mood strikes them.

[LiberalFighter]

11. I agree. Absolutely not!! They are not domestic animals intended to be pets.

ANYONE who inclines to want them as pets are only interested for their own ego purposes.

AND animals should not be imported from other countries. When they are released they upset the environmental balance. They should not own reptiles, fish or other creatures that are not normally found in nature for that area.

[ThomWV]

8. It is none of our business what animal anyone owns so long as the contain it.

I know idiots who own poisonous snakes, mean dogs, fish that will eat anything that finds its way into the tank, and some of the most murderous cats that ever set a paw to earth. Its no business of mine and I may visit at my own peril, but with full knowledge of both the idiot and the peril.

[Deep13]

12. That would be fine if you could be sure of their containment.

If they escape they not only pose a danger to public safety, but can develop into a species invasive to the local environment.

[DBoon]

26. You can't contain an animal with the strength of 7 grown men

We aren't talking about a capuchin monkey here.

Some exotic pets are inherently uncontrollable and are physically capable of taking down a grown human

[Canuckistanian]

9. Those cute chimps you see on TV are children

They grow up to be large, powerful beasts that are not so cute and timid. Some become downright violent or destructive.

I think every chimp owner should be aware of this fact and make plans for this eventuality.

[Soylent Brice]

10. i have two at home, and a third on the way...

[ejpoeta]

13. I think at the very least that woman should have had a tranqulizer gun

available. If she would have had that and used that it probably would have stopped the chimp. I don't think wild animals should be pets. chimpanzees are wild animals. so.... I mean, this chimp was very strong, and this woman wouldn't be able to handle him if he got upset or wanted to hurt someone.... as evidenced. Now, I know my sister has a son, who, if he wanted to cause trouble she wouldn't be able to control him... that could be true for anyone or any animal. but there should at least be something in place in case something happened. I personally think it's not really fair to keep wild animals as pets. they deserve to be with others like them in the wild.

[CTyankee]

15. The tv interview with her this morning revealed that she was a very disturbed individual.

God only knows what she would have done with a tranquilizer gun in her hands...

[ejpoeta]

16. zoos and i would bet sanctuarys for these animals would

most likely have tranquilizer guns. something to subdue them if something were to happen. if they got out of control or whatnot. though, i am going to bet that zoos and sanctuaries would practice for what to do in certain cases as well. this woman treated this chimp as a human, and therefore apparently didn't feel it was necessary to be prepared for an event like what happened.

any animal, even dogs and cats can turn on people. we always have to be prepared for that to happen.... even if we never think it will.

[CTyankee]

17. No, this lady was nuts, kissing the chimp on the mouth and saying she slept with him in her bed.

I was horrified just thinking about it...

[ejpoeta]

19. yeah, that is kinda wierd. i mean, her husband and daughter died.

maybe after that, she went off the reservation or something.

[Kansas Wyatt]

18. The widow who replaced her husband with a chimp...

Was basically what she did.

She was very weird, and I was appalled that she was more concerned about what she had done to the chimp, rather than what the chimp did to her neighbor.

[bdamomma]

23. I heard she gave Xanax to the chimp because he was agitated.

I wonder if the medication made the chimp go off?

[TorchTheWitch]

24. Could be part of it

since Xanax does have that effect on some people (and perhaps that effect is more common or stronger in a chimp). However, I think he went off for the same reason all the experts are saying... it was normal chimp behavior for his gender and age. His aggitated behavior should have been a big clue to this woman that trouble was brewing and she should have contained him rather than self medicating him (as I heard it, the chimp had no prescription for the Xanax). Then again, I just saw an interview earlier where she said she gave the medication to him in a drink, but the pills sank to the bottom and didn't melt, and therefore never got into the chimp at all.

The real problem here is that this woman even after owning the chimp for so many years knew nothing whatsoever about the species she owned, and foolishly believed he would behave as a human being would behave. I think this woman knew for some time that she was losing control of the chimp as he got older and tried to treat him as a mother would try to treat a problem human child. The more I hear from this woman, the more she comes across as a whacko, and as someone else said in this thread I'm completely horrified that she is more concerned about what she did to the chimp than what the chimp did to her neighbor... so far, I've heard not one single word from her about how bad she feels for the poor woman who was mauled.

[bdamomma]

28. maybe it was her Xanax, she doesn't sound to well herself.

[TorchTheWitch]

33. That's what I was thinking

This lady has a whole bucket full of screws loose.

[AngryAmish]

14. I keep my cape buffalo in the back yard.

What could possibly go wrong?

[rolltideroll]

32. Do you have a chain link fence? That should hold him.

[AngryAmish]

39. No, why should I?

He hasn't attacked anyone yet. You should see him. He is soooo gentle.

I know that cape buffalo are misunderstood. In fact, 9 out of 10 people do not know a cape buffalo from another large ruminent. It is buffalo-racism, I tell ya.

I know, I work in cape buffalo rescue. The rest of you are ignorent.

[ecstatic]

20. 10 times worse than owning an (uncared for) pit bull

Anyone who thinks its a good idea has never been to the zoo. When chimpanzees get territorial... omg... watch out!

[rolltideroll]

22. Exactly

This should fall under the Gun Control umbrella.Too dangerous to let people have a fully automatic weapon, but for all intents and purposes, that chimp became a self guided weapon that could have gone off at any time, at anyone.

[bdamomma]

21. All creatures including chimpanzees need to live in their own habitant, all creatures

this woman who had this chimpanzee lost her husband and her daughter I think, and she was lonely, why not get a cat, dog, gerbils or a hamster.

[CTyankee]

25. No kidding! I seriously wonder why her friends didn't do something to get the chimp away from her.

I don't think I've ever heard of someone keeping a chimp as a pet. Don't you think a "friend" would not want her harmed and saw some danger in the situation. If I were her neighbor I'd call the police about a public safety violation...

[ecstatic]

29. I think this should serve as a wake up call to everyone who

knows someone who keeps exotic animals or even some dog breeds. Enter their homes at your own risk--if their pets act up, you have no recourse.

[xchrom]

27. no. nt

[Lorien]

30. No. It takes centuries to turn a wild animal into a domestic animal

and most can't be domesticated. I've had some experience with this. Believe me, wild animals make lousy "pets"!




Ashiki the serval/ begal hellcat

[petronius]

31. I think there should be clear animal welfare laws that would preclude keeping

a chimp (or tiger, elephant, hyena, emu, etc) in an apartment, but I would not oppose ownership of such animals as long as proper care, habitat, and confinement was provided.

For a chimp, I'd guess that "proper habitat" would include a very large area containing diverse vegetation/structure as well as other chimps...

[malakai2]

35. That sounds reasonable

Except that there would need to be some objective rules governing proper care and some entity in charge of licensing and enforcement, which would be very difficult given the range of things people keep as pets and houseplants. Who has the expertise to write such wide-ranging rules? Even wildlife specialists performing import inspections miss stuff all the time...a university professor of mine argued with an inspector over whether the insects he was importing were bees (they were, he's a bee specialist) or ants (which they were not, despite the official's insistence). Certainly guidelines for big cats, wild dogs, large constrictors, venomous snakes, and the like should be easier to write (despite professional disagreement over what constitutes proper care), but what about guidelines for people wanting to keep box jellyfish in an aquarium, or potentially dangerous spiders in a terrarium, or even something as innocuous as a habituated skunk that might pick up a rabies infection?

There are cases like this where people don't research, don't follow even minimal safety precautions, and it comes back to bite them in the ass. Or they pick up a cute little fish that will eventually grow to the size of a St. Bernard, or a cute baby snake that will eventually top 20 feet in length, or a talkative parakeet that was smuggled out of its home country without quarantine, and all those critters will eventually end up released into the nearest local habitat. It might just be easier to implement blanket importation restrictions, make people and corporations prove that what they are importing is in fact clean and not likely to pose an ecological threat in case of escape, and demonstrate to an AZA board that they are familiar with and equipped to provide proper husbandry. Better for the critters that then wouldn't be captured, better for the habitats from which they are no longer removed, perhaps better for more typical dogs and cats and such already here that people might pick as pets instead.

Or people could just continue making pets out of whatever strikes their fancy with no oversight whatsoever. It does seem like a big deal when we get one particularly newsworthy case every so often, but in the end it seems like we're much more likely to die in a car wreck or lose our retirement savings than to be killed or maimed by a tiger that escapes the neighbor's basement.

[Occam Bandage]

34. No. Not remotely. They should be respected and kept in their natural habitat.

[Aristus]

36. No. The chimpanzee is not a domesticated animal, like the dog, the housecat or the cow.

The chimpanzee is a wild animal, violent, destructive and, on average, three times as strong as a human being. Nobody should be allowed to own them.

The gorilla, on the other hand, is peaceful, placid and languid, but nobody should be allowed to own them, either.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. Read "Next of Kin" by Roger Fouts,

who worked on early chimp language experiments and ended up founding a sanctuary for chimps who have been used for research or entertainment purposes. He makes it clear that while they were highly intelligent and empathetic, they ARE wild animals with needs that have nothing to do with humans, such a need for an interesting environment and interaction with their own kind.

[Phoonzang]

38. No...it's like trying to keep a pet Viking.

Sure they'll behave nicely for a while, but eventually they'll just go apeshit (no pun intended) and tear your face off. Well...your face if you're lucky. The things usually go for the gonads or other soft parts.

[SeeHopeWin]

40. HELL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!