Commentary on Jane Goodall's Reason for Hope by Katheryn Krupa

 
Photo Courtesy of www.JaneGoodall.org

I just finished reading an excellent biography by Jane Goodall called Reason for Hope.  In it she shares interesting details about her work studying and living with chimps in Africa, her breakthroughs and personal journey.  The most disturbing aspect of the story for me was the revelation (or reminder) that over 1,000 chimps still are used in medical research in the United States.  Wanting to know more, I visited a variety of websites with pros and cons on animal research labs along with her website to see if I could find out more details on the need for this kind of work.  It was upsetting to see that our country (and Gabon) are the only two countries still using chimps for medical research despite the fact they are poor models for human disease research.  Her data reports that "despite chimpanzees sharing between 96 to 98 percent of the same DNA as humans, that small variation accounts for some major differences in the way diseases tend to behave and affect the two species."  I was surprised to learn that over 1,000 chimps still are kept in small, sterile, isolated cages for most of their lives (50 or more years) bored, frightened and with little chance for socializing or stimulation.  There are much more ethical avenues for research that would give better results for humans.  I encourage you to do your own studies and research and make your own decision.  This quote from the book really hit home for me after Jane Goodall visited a chimp named JoJo in a medical research facility:

“I knelt down in front of JoJo, and he reached as much of his hand as he could between the thick bars that formed a barrier between us. The bars were all around him, on every side, above and below. He had already been in this tiny prison for at least ten years; ten years of utter boredom interspersed with periods of fear and pain. There was nothing in his cage save an old motor tire for him to sit on. And he had no opportunity to contact others of his kind. I looked into his eyes. There was no hatred there, only a sort of gratitude because I had stopped to talk to him,. Helped to break the terrible grinding monotony of the day. Gently he groomed the ridges where my nails pressed against the thin rubber of the gloves I had been given, along with mask and paper cap. I pushed my hand in between the bars and, lips smacking, he groomed the hairs on the back of my wrist, peeling the glove down.

JoJo’s mother had been shot in Africa. Could he remember that life? I wondered. Did he sometimes dream of the great trees with the breeze rustling through the canopy, the birds singing, the comfort of his mother’s arms? I thought of David Greybeard and the other chimpanzees of Gombe. I looked again at JoJo  as he groomed me, and my vision blurred. Not for him the freedom to choose each day how we would spend his time and where and with whom. There was no comfort for him of soft forest floor or leafy nest high in the treetops. And the sounds of nature were gone too, the tumbling of the streams, the roar of the waterfall through the dim greens and browns of the forest world, the winds rustling and sighing in the branches, the scuttlings of little creatures moving through the leaves, the chimpanzee calls rising, so clear, from the distant hills."

For more information, and to support legislation to change these inhumane conditions, visit:  http://www.janegoodall.org/action