Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: "The Naked Ape"

Ape Story

I got to go to the Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation here in central Florida a couple of years ago with an old girlfriend of mine who's the director Of American Humane in Films in LA. She was back here looking for a home to retire some old Hollywood apes. This is a large conservation area with all kinds of primates. Excellent housing and cages with large runs like pathways way up in the trees where they can isolate chimps and introduce them to each other gradually. Run by a woman and mostly female volunteers.
They also have cement block houses and separate rooms and bunks for the apes. Some were interesting and appeared quite mellow. There were a couple of wild-eyed males in there that spat through the bars at you and would give you this feeling you'd do well to stay out of their territory.

Hurricane Charley had just gone through and the place was a mess. They'd lost half their underbrush. They said so many trees were down, that it took them up to three days to get to some of the cages that were only a few hundred feet away. They stayed in the dorms with the apes as the storm moved through...a category four. (Yeah, I remember it was pretty intense, although Wauchula had the eye move over them.)

Our only open encounter with a chimp was a young one who had....cerebral palsy and they were taking him out for a walk. It walked right over to me, grabbed my leg and went to bite me! Thankfully they pulled him off me, thankfully I had jeans on. They could put a hurting on you. Lesson: never trust an ape.

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