Because O’Donnell has spent so much time with the
chimps, she says, “they recognize my car. They’ll scream
when they see my car coming.”
Before heading outside to get his treat, Herbie looks
at the water bottle on top of his cage in the feeding area.
“Can I have your trash?” O’Donnell asks. Herbie hands
her scraps and peanut shells through the cage. He looks up
at the empty water bottle on top of the enclosure, then he
pokes at it until the bottle falls off. O’Donnell catches it.
“They love music, they love to watch SpongeBob on
TV. Topo likes Seinfeld. So good of you to clean your own
bedroom,” O’Donnell says.
At 51, Topo is the sanctuary’s alpha male. He and
Herbie are kept in separate groups to avoid a battle for
status. O’Donnell says Topo would probably die if the two
ever faced off because he’s too old to fight.
The similarities between Herbie and me are staggering.
I watch him choose and open a snack package — an
enrichment activity and snack that the staff makes every
day — and he separates the shredded newspaper from the
dried apples, peanuts and pretzels.
Jane Goodall was the first person to discover that
chimpanzees make and use tools; the primatologist has
spent 50 years researching and working to protect the
closest living relatives to humans, according the Jane
Goodall Institute’s website.
As she immersed herself in the wilds of Tanzania, Good-
all witnessed chimpanzees using sticks to remove termites
from mounds. Though this discovery was made in 1960,
watching a chimp trying to interact with me was surreal.
If chimps are born in captivity, or are taken away from
their mothers as babies, they cannot return the wild. As with
other captive wild animals, they don’t possess the behaviors
that allow them to hunt or to protect themselves. Yet human-
caused destruction of their natural habitat, as well as
poachers, continues to decimate the chimpanzee population
throughout a habitat that spans across 22 African countries,
according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Chimps Inc. formed and is a member of the American
Primate Sanctuary Alliance, created “to develop a
standard of care for captive chimps and to try to get the
chimps out of research and out of these private sectors,”
O’Donnell says.
“So we’re on the placement team,” she adds. “If we
know of a chimp that is in need of a home, that somebody
is going to release, we’ll jump into action to try to find
way to get the transport, the medical done and all that, and
place them with an accredited sanctuary.”
As Herbie finishes his snack, he listens as O’Donnell
asks him to back up so she can take his photo. He seems
to be right at home in the only chimp sanctuary in
Oregon, where he’ll spend the rest of his life with familiar
caregivers and remain protected from the wild. ■
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July 27, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
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