Meet Beanie, one of IPPL's
Sanctuary Gibbons
In her youth Candy rode the rides, walked the midway, and even starred on a local television show. According to Haynes, "She was quite an attraction. She was in plenty of local parades always in convertibles and always wearing her finest dresses and sunglasses".
Candy also starred with several other chimpanzees in the park's biggest promotion The Chimpville Revue. For several years the Revue drew huge crowds of people eager to see the act's big finale five chimpanzees riding a Honda motorcycle on stage.
Candy has been at the center of a controversy that has lasted over a decade. Local animal welfare groups, concerned citizens in and around Baton Rogue, and the city's animal Control Director have been trying for years to improve Candy's living conditions.
Enlisting the help of primatologists like Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts, as well as the International Primate Protection League, Candy's supporters gained their first victory in 1989.
At the time, Candy was living in a cage 10 feet (3 meters) long, 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide, and 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. The cage was outside and, in the winter, allegedly covered with a plastic tarp to protect Candy from the cold. Despite Hayne's prediction that moving Candy to a new cage would be "traumatic" and "possibly fatal", in December of 1989 she moved into a much larger circular corncrib cage.
While Candy's new cage provided her with more room it is far from appropriate housing for a chimpanzee one of the most intelligent and social of all the primates. She still lacks a stimulating and challenging environment befitting her species and is still in solitary confinement.
Candy's supporters sought to remedy this situation with legislation. House Bill 1381, drafted by a New Orleans group, Legislation in Support of Animals (LISA), sought to establish requirements for housing Candy with another chimpanzee, either in modified quarters at the Fun Fair Park or somewhere else. Primarily Primates in San Antonio, Texas had agreed to give Candy a home.
Introduced on LISA's behalf by Representative Naomi Farve, HB 1381 passed the state House unanimously in April, 1997. In early June (June 10) the Senate Agricultural committee listened to testimony to decide whether or not the bill would be heard by the full Senate.
LISA's Director, Jeff Dorsan, asked me to address the committee on Candy's behalf. I flew to Baton Rouge and visited Candy at the Fun Fair Park. After meeting Candy I was convinced that she was an excellent candidate for resocialization.
The following morning I appeared before the Agricultural Committee and described the success of many chimpanzees like Candy who, after years of isolation, have been introduced to other chimpanzees.
When asked by the committee exactly what HB 1381 was trying to achieve, I explained that the bill was remarkably similar to the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act concerning the psychological wellbeing of primates. The amendments require that primates be provided with an enriching physical environment and that their social needs be met.
Next, Bill Fiore, the then Director of the Montgomery, Alabama Zoo, testified that Candy should be kept, alone, at the Fun Fair Park. According to Fiore, Candy is "no longer a chimpanzee," considers the visitors to the park to be members of her extended family, and echoed Sam Hayne's earlier prediction that moving Candy would be traumatic and possible fatal. He also commended the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the fine job they are doing.
Then the Hayne's family representative tearfully testified insisting that Candy had never been commercially exploited and was merely the family's beloved pet.
But what the hearing finally came down to was a simple question asked by the Committee is Candy's housing legal ornot?
According to the U. S. Federal Register and Title Code 9 it is not legal. However, according to Candy's owner the amusement park passes every USDA inspection "with flying colors". If we judge Candy's environment in light of the INTENT of Congress when they adopted the 1985 Amendments then surely Congress intended to outlaw living situations like Candy's. So, is it legal, legal by default, or just not illegal?
House Bill 1381, so similar to the current federal regulations, merely sought to do on the state level what USDA is refusing to do on a national level. The Committee, finding nothing illegal in Candy's situation, deferred the bill and Candy is left to spend the next 20 years, alone, amongst the whirly bird ride and the bumper cars.
CANDY NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Candy urgently needs your help if she is not to live her entire life in a noisy fun fair away from other chimpanzees. Dr. Jane Goodall's studies have shown that chimpanzees are not meant to live alone. The Department of Agriculture is supposed to develop and enforce regulations for the psychological wellbeing of nonhuman primates but its veterinary staff, who should know better, actually see nothing wrong with keeping chimpanzees alone, as long as they have some toys and the dubious companionship of humans.
One of the people who most needs education on this subject is Assistant Secretary Michael Dunn. Carole Noon, who has an earned doctorate in primatology, and has worked with rescued chimpanzees over several years, has found dealing with Mr. Dunn one of the greatest frustrations she has ever experienced. Let's show Mr. Dunn that we all agree with Carole that Candy should not live in solitary confinment a punishment reserved for the most heinous of human criminals (even the human cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer was not imprisoned in "solitary").
Mr. Dunn's address:
Michael Dunn, Assistant Secretary
Marketing and Regulatory Programs
Department of Agriculture
Washington, DC 20250, USA
Maybe the possibility of the loss of tourist dollars would force Louisiana state officials to pay attention to Candy's plight. Louisiana tourism is handled by the office of the Lieutenant Governor, Kathleen Blanco. Please send a letter or email asking her to make a personal visit to Candy and see how she is living and then DO SOMETHING. Tell her that you will not visit Louisiana until this chimpanzee's solitary confinement is brought to an end.
Address:
Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
900 North Third Street
Baton Rouge LA 70802, USA
Fax: 5043421949
Email: kblanco@crt.state.la.us
Meet Beanie, one of IPPL's
Sanctuary Gibbons