Chimp Heaven

This past spring, in a secluded patch of forest in
northwest Louisiana’s Caddo Parish, a singularly bizarre bit of evolution
unfolded. There, amid the sun-dappled pines and flitting birds, a pair
of 40-something chimpanzees named Rita and Teresa — lifetime research
subjects who were originally taken from Africa for use in NASA’s space
program — became American pioneers of a whole other sort: the first
beneficiaries of an inspired piece of retirement legislation passed by
the United States government. Rita and
Teresa checked in on the afternoon of April 4 at the recently opened
Chimp Haven, the first federally financed, taxpayer-supported retirement
home for chimpanzees.

Ultimately, 260 chimpanzees at Save the Chimps, virtually all of them bred
in captivity and used for research, will be set free on one of a dozen
three-acre islands on the sanctuary grounds.

They arrived in a specially equipped trailer after an eight-hour drive
from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Tex.
After receiving full physicals from Chimp Haven’s in-house veterinarian,
including dental checkups for possible extractions or root canals, the
two chimps were shown to their spacious new sleeping quarters, complete
with fresh running water and cross-ventilation, multiple windows and skylights,
hammocks made of neatly crosshatched sections of used fire hose, bedding
of warm blankets and hay, vanity mirrors, as well as a TV, a VCR and DVD
and CD players.

Following a long nap, Rita and Teresa awoke to a couple of banana smoothies
and were shown the door to their courtyard. As it was recalled to me by
a staff member, they paused a moment to regard the somewhat otherworldly
prospect of a wide-open, odor-free patio, a playground jungle gym and,
just beyond the play yard’s far walls, their own private five-acre expanse
of grapevine-laced pines and sweetgums.

For a fifty-something educator facing early retirement
options ranging from defecting to North Korea to relocating to a homeless
shelter,
this deal sounds pretty good.  And Rita and Teresa sound like
a couple wild and crazy single gals in their 40’s. Where do we sign up?

from a loong article in the New York Times