PBS' "Nature" will introduce its 25th season this Sunday night with a documentary by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Allison Argo on the efforts of individuals and organizations like the Fauna Foundation, the Center for Great Apes and Save the Chimps to secure the release of chimpanzees used in bio-medical experiments and/or entertainment to sanctuaries where they can live out their lives in some semblance of comfort. Nature's producers are quoted as saying they think this story is so important that they could think of no more fitting subject to begin their new season.
For those of you willing to entertain the idea that the human treatment of our closest evolutionary living relatives deserves examination, even in times of a hot election, follow me below the fold:
It has long been my view that study of the living great apes in the wild has
only begun to reveal rich veins of precursor behavior to homo sapiens. The literature is now rife with proof beyond a scientific doubt that chimpanzees and bonobos, closer to us on the evolutionary tree than they are to gorrillas or orangs, are self-aware, sentient beings capable of planning for the future, lying to their fellow tribe mates and finding humor in their everyday life. While I personally see no controversy in banning biomedical research on these creatures, I understand that others are not so convinced. Thus I hope that alerting dKos to Nature's program will further my agenda in recognizing that the great apes have value in and of their own, not only as gateways to understanding ourselves, but in their ability to live free lives.
According to the Humane Society, "Great Britain will not grant licenses for great ape research and New Zealand, Sweden, Austria and The Netherlands legislatively prohibit great ape research. Also, Japan has halted invasive great ape research, and a ban is being pressed for as well. The Spanish government is considering granting chimpanzees and other great apes, special protection against "slavery, torture, death, and extinction." Only the United States, Japan and Gabon are known to currently use chimpanzees in biomedical research."
There are a great many nay-sayers who postulate that ending invasive research on great apes should be a low priority compared to the agony of humans enslaved and warred against around the globe. I do not see this as en either/or proposition. To simplify matters greatly, Buddha is quoted as saying that treating an animal with compassion is the beginning of extending compassion to human beings. Indeed, studies of young children and animal abuse confirm a trajectory of violence against people. Thus I propose that recognition of great apes as sentient beings, and that the invasive research and imprisonment of them is a moral and ethical dilemma of significant proportions. In fact, I think the 'right' to some sort of freedom for laboratory born great apes and conservation of habitat for wild born great apes is and should rightly be part of a progressive agenda and am often reminded of the struggle for womens' right to vote in this nation when progressives are advised to let this issue 'cool' until the time is ready.
The time is past NOW. I implore you to lift your eyes from GOTV to watch this important documentary. It is promises to be groundbreaking in further elucidating the moral quandry we are in with relationship to our "Next of Kin."