As ridiculous as it may sound, retirement homes for chimpanzees are very appropriate because these animals have sacrificed much for American society by working in both the entertainment and medical industries. In a time when universal health care and veteran care are nonexistent or underfunded, the idea of federally funded chimpanzee retirement home seems even more ridiculous.

In the entertainment industry, chimpanzees can work for just four or five years before growing too strong and aggressive to control. Therefore, chimpanzees after working four or five years in the entertainment industry might spend the rest of their lives not working, and currently the longest living chimpanzee is 75-years old.

President Clinton signed the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act into law to provide lifetime care for chimpanzees “that have been used, or were bred or purchased for use, in research conducted or supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, or other agencies of the Federal Government, and with respect to which it has been determined by the Secretary that the chimpanzees are not needed for such research.” Providing care for retired chimpanzees is an ethical and moral duty, especially since chimpanzees and humans are 96% alike.

Entertainment and research chimpanzees typically retire in homes that may seem nice enough for humans or a home that attempts to recreate natural chimpanzee habitat, since chimpanzees are either taken from the wild or born in captivity. A hybrid of the two types exist too. Captive born chimpanzees require human contact and more anthropogenic like settings, and chimpanzees born in the wild are given a more natural setting.

Cheeta was born in 1932 and worked in the Tarzan films of the 1930s and 40s. He is still alive at 75! Cheeta lives at Creative Habitats and Enrichment for Endangered and Threatened Apes or CHEETA in Palm Springs, California, where he still lives the life that he was become accustomed to. From This American Life:

Reporter Charles Siebert talks with Ira about retirement homes for Chimpanzees. Yes, retirement homes for Chimpanzees. There are thousands of aging chimps in the US: retired chimp actors, ex-research subjects, abandoned pets. They can’t be put back in the wild since they don’t know how to survive there. Charles Siebert visited many of the facilities where they’re housed, often in rooms, with TV’s and 3 meals a day. He’s writing a book about his experiences called Humanzee.

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On the Net: C.H.E.E.T.A. Primate Sanctuary
On the Net: MySpace.com – Cheeta – 75 – Male – Palm Springs, California
On the Net: Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation
On the Net: Chimp Haven
On the Net: Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act

Hat tip to Kevin.

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