Primate People Saving Nonhuman Primates through Education, Advocacy, and Sanctuary

About this book

In the last 30 years the bushmeat trade has led to the slaughter of nearly 90 percent of West Africa’s bonobos, perhaps our closest relatives, and has recently driven Miss Waldron’s red colobus monkey to extinction. Earth was once rich with primates, but every species – except one – is now extinct or endangered because of one primate – Homo sapiens. How have our economic and cultural practices pushed our cousins toward destruction? Would we care more about their fate if we knew something of their individual lives and sufferings? Would we help them if we understood how our choices threaten their existence? This anthology helps to answer these questions.

The first section of Primate People introduces forces that threaten nonhuman primates, such as the entertainment and "pet" industries, the bushmeat trade, habitat destruction, and logging. The second section exposes the exploitation of primates in research facilities, including the painful memories of an undercover agent, and suggests models of more enlightened scientific methods. The final section tells the stories of those who lobby for change, educate communities, and tenderly care for our displaced cousins in sanctuaries.

Sometimes shocking and disturbing, sometimes poignant and encouraging, Primate People always draws the reader into the lives of nonhuman primates. Activists around the world reveal the antics and pleasures of monkeys, the tendencies and idiosyncrasies of chimpanzees, and the sufferings and fears of macaques. Charming, difficult, sensitive – these testimonies demonstrate that nonhuman primates and human beings are, indeed, closely related. Woven into the anthology’s lucid narratives are the stories of how we harm and create the conditions that endanger primates, and what we can and must do to prevent their ongoing suffering and fast-approaching extinction.

Contents

Foreword ~ Marc Bekoff
Acknowledgments
Introduction ~ Lisa Kemmerer

PART I: Foundations
1. Primate Basics ~ Linda D. Wolfe
2. International Primate Conservation: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ~ Birgith Sloth
3. Friends of the Earth Malaysia ~ Phaik Kee Lim
4. Looking Up, Counting Down ~ Noga and Sam Shanee
5. International Primate Protection League: A Wonderful Life ~ Shirley McGreal

PART II: Research
6. Paper Lives ~ Michael A. Budkie
7. 16162 ~ Matt Rossell
8. Monkeys, Malaria, and My Work in Miami ~ Juan Pablo Perea-Rodriguez
9. Learning from Macaques ~ Linda D. Wolfe
10. The Winding Path to Where I Stand: Becoming a Primatologist ~ Debra Durham

PART III: Sanctuaries
11. Born to Be Wild: Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary ~ Barbara G. Cox
12. Loving and Learning ~ Deborah D. Misotti
13. Some Baboons in My CARE: Saba, Einstein, George Bush, Nathan,
Snare-Boy, Tripsy, and Giovanni ~ Rita Miljo
14. A Veterinarian with Conviction ~ Karmele Llano Sanchez
15. Volunteering in Thailand: The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project ~ Fiona Mikowski
16. Friends Are the Family We Choose ~ Paula Muellner
17. ¡Comejenes y Terremotos! (Termites and Earthquakes!) ~ Keri Cairns
18. Singe ~ Helen Thirlway
19. Soiled Hands ~ Sangamithra Iyer

Appendix: Opportunities to Work with Primates
List of Contributors
References and Suggested Reading
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Lisa Kemmerer is an associate professor of philosophy and religions at Montana State University, Billings. She has published numerous scholarly articles and has authored or edited several books, including Animals and World Religions and Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice. She is a philosopher-activist determined to work against oppression, whether on behalf of nonhuman animals, the environment, or disempowered human beings.