Blythe-a-Day April## 24: No animal testing: Donna Thinks about Project Nim...

            Donna: "Did you ever see the documentary "Project Nim"? It's about a chimp named Nim who was used a a research subject by a professor who wanted to see if chimps could learn language if they lived very closely with human beings."

"The problem is that it seems so few people respected Nim as an animal--including those who were part of the research on him. Also, after he was used as for the project, he was just tossed aside and neglected for much of his life, though, fortunately, there were a few people who really looked out for him and saved him."

"The family that Nim lived with at the start of the experiment seemed to love him--but as a kind of honorary human, not as an animal. The mother of the family even breast fed him. I'm not sure what to make of that. She didn't even care if he learned sign language, as he was supposed to try to." 

"When Nim left that family, he was still studied by humans who seemed to love him...except...They were totally unprepared for the fact that he was a growing animal. After they felt that he could be dangerous, he was sent to the Institute for Primate Studies where the professor who had done research on him only visited him once. It's such a touching and sad scene: Nim was so excited that he ran to him and hugged him. Yet, that one time was the only time the man came to see him--he was finished with Nim and seemed only to visit him as a photo op."

"Then, Nim was sent to a lab that used animals in experiments. 
It's tragic to think that while Nim was there, he was still making the signs for 'hug' and 'play.' That breaks my heart."

"There was a man who worked at the lab who knew who Nim was, and was very sad to see him there, as well as the other poor chimps. Luckily, that lab was closed. Finally, I thought, Nim was going to get his happy ending...Not yet..."

"He was sent to a sort of haven for animals that Cleveland Amory, a man interested in protecting them, had established. But the awful part is that Nim was simply put--alone--in a very large cage. Chimps are social animals, and here he was, almost totally isolated..."

"Luckily, a man who had worked at one of the places Nim had been kept earlier was really devoted to being an advocate for him. He finally succeeded in changing Nim's living conditions: he was finally introduced to other chimps and lived among them in a habitat."

"That was a happy ending, of sorts. Still, before that, Nim's life had been so disrupted by people who did not truly value him for what he was--an animal, not a thing to be used and discarded. Nothing good can come of disrespecting animals. I mean, I know the difference between my stuffed toy and a real chimp; they're not interchangeable.  People are supposed to be caretakers of the earth; why do we mess things up so many times?"

Taken on: April 18, 2016

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Project Nim

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