I was shocked at that Flickr gallery and the terrible treatment of the Cefn-yr-Erw chimps. Maltesers and pizza is one thing, but they're actually letting them drink tea out of plastic pop bottles.
What on earth happened to maintaining standards? Surely chimps are supposed to drink tea out of china cups? And while we're at it, why can't they have a small bicycle for further enrichment?
What a rediculous comment : " Surely chimps are supposed to drink tea out of china cups? "
I have only ever seen the chimps drink water out of bottles .. and even if they were occasionaly given tea, what is wrong with it being given in bottles ? far safer than china cups.
What a rediculous comment : " Surely chimps are supposed to drink tea out of china cups? "
I have only ever seen the chimps drink water out of bottles .. and even if they were occasionaly given tea, what is wrong with it being given in bottles ? far safer than china cups.
What a rediculous comment : " Surely chimps are supposed to drink tea out of china cups? "
I have only ever seen the chimps drink water out of bottles .. and even if they were occasionaly given tea, what is wrong with it being given in bottles ? far safer than china cups.
yes. I'm conflicted about posting this image link as I imagine the contact is probably much needed stimulation for the gibbons there, I would actually be quite sorry if this practice was stopped:
Hi, that's my photo set and Vo does indeed enjoy human contact. He is a very gentle old man and has had a life filled with human interaction, however right or wrong that may be deemed to be.
Vo won't normally attach himself to people (he took a real shine to me), he normally just prefers a back rub and to remain firmly attached to the weldmesh.
Unfortunately, the life and medical histories of the animals at the sanctuary are not always rosy, so in an ideal world not only would we not be handling gibbons, feeding animals sugary treats, or giving them cups of tea, the animals wouldn't be in a sanctuary or a zoo at all. The sanctuary wouldn't have to exist and the animals would be wild and free and happy.
Thankfully, whilst we live in a world that’s very far from ideal, the sanctuary does exist and the staff there are very dedicated.
The chimpanzees (Joey and Tubman) were drinking tea to settle their stomachs - they're used to it from their previous home. Giving it to them in bottles is the easiest and least messy way to dispense it.
The lemurs were indeed having some maltesers. The sanctuary receives a lot of 'human' food in the form of supermarket donations, so there are occasional sweet treats fed to the animals. Whilst I initially found this quite a turn off, once you remember how close they are to us genetically, why is it a problem? They're not eating rubbish to excess - they only had a few Maltesers each and they’re far from being ‘wild’ having all come from molly-coddled private collections.
I'm happy to discuss any image on that photo set with anyone here, but discussing my photos in my absence, with lots of speculation, is a bit of a pointless exercise.
