Rescues—The Dahlonega Five

We first learned about the five chimpanzees living in the hills of northwest Georgia in the summer of 1997. Kevin Ivester of the Simian Society contacted us, explaining that little was known about the situation because the owner had kept to herself over the years. The rumor was that she was in failing health, and that the chimps would soon be transferred to a nearby roadside zoo. He promised to do what he could to get more information, but the prospects weren’t encouraging.

On October 1, we received a call from the owner, a 55-year-old diabetic with heart problems who was recovering from injuries sustained when her car was hit by a tractor trailer in March 1997. She had just decided that the “zoo” was not a fit home for her chimps, and was in a panic because the now-angry zoo owner knew that the chimps’ living quarters had not been cleaned since her accident. She feared that he would turn her in to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) who might confiscate her “babies.” (She brought the chimps into Georgia in 1977 and was “grandfathered in” when Georgia later enacted their Wild Animal Law.)

After learning that these five animals—who ranged in age from 24 to 28 years old—were bedded on newspaper and occupied two 10 x 10-foot cubicles, we convinced the owner to allow us to come clean the enclosures and do some needed repairs. We loaded our pressure washer, cleaning equipment and Rachel Weiss—a newly hired former Yerkes caretaker—and drove the 350 miles to Dahlonega on October 5.

Nothing could have prepared us for what we found when we arrived. The 20 x 25-foot concrete block building, built 20 years before, had deteriorated beyond repair. The iron caging material, fashioned from materials scavenged from a 19th century jailhouse, was almost completely covered with expanded mesh. The owner traveled quite a bit, and a system of access doors and food bins—which once allowed strangers to feed the animals in relative safety—now had gaping holes through which the chimps could (and did!) reach out to grab passersby. Not seeing any obvious watering system, we inquired and were told that the chimps were given their water from cups twice a day, although during a total of seven days there, I only saw them watered once.

The two 10 x 10-foot cubicles were separated by a 5 x 10-foot holding area. The shift doors hadn’t been opened in so long, they were corroded shut. Before we could physically get to the cages to work on the doors, we had to deal with the goat pen, a 6 x 6-foot chain link enclosure inside the building with a two-foot deep solid mass of hay and waste. The building was dark and damp, with little ventilation. The temperature was in the high 80’s, and the smell was indescribable. We donned our protective gear—masks, gloves, long pants, and long sleeve shirts—and dug in.

Late in the day, we were finally able to pry the transfer doors open far enough to allow the two chimps on the right end to join the three in the far left enclosure. They had not been together for nearly a year, and their reunion was—in true chimp fashion—interspersed with loud pant-hoots and noisy displays. Finally, we could get into the chimp living space and assess the work ahead of us. Newspaper, old food containers, and waste littered the small space. To make room for themselves, the chimps had learned to push the waste and newspaper up against the front walls of their cells, forming a mass in each cubicle that was 4 feet wide by 3 feet deep by 10 feet long.

Kevin would be leaving the next day, and as we assessed the work ahead, we realized we’d need additional manpower. We searched our database that evening and saw that Jane and Steuart Dewar’s recent move to GA (to begin the development of Gorilla Haven) had landed them less than an hour’s drive from Dahlonega. We called them that night, described the situation, and they agreed to come the following morning to help. Two long days later, the spaces were as clean as they had been in years.

We visited again toward the end of October to install a rudimentary watering system. Although the owner had assured me that once the place was cleaned out she could enlist local help to maintain it, nothing had been done since my previous visit. Due to heavy rains, there was now three inches of standing water in the chimp areas. The drains were once again stopped up with the newspaper the animals used for bedding. The chimps were all now confined to one 10 x 10 cubicle, the other side was being used for some of her dogs, which she didn’t want to leave out in the rain.

We cleaned, mopped, got the drains working and installed drain covers which could be removed for cleaning. The rest of the visit was spent installing iron strap reinforcements on the outside of the building to prevent the chimps from further dislodging several loose cinder blocks. We also began talking to the owner about finding another home for the chimps, and left with a promise that she wouldn’t continue to house the dogs in the chimp area.

Two days later, she was taken to the hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered a heart attack. We spoke with her in the hospital, and she indicated that she was terrified that DNR would come and confiscate the animals. She pleaded with us to take ownership of them, so we faxed a donation agreement to her, which she signed and sent back. With the signed agreement in hand, the chimps could now be evacuated—but the question was, where?

We called on Dr. Sarah (Sally) Boysen with the Chimp Cognition Lab at Ohio State. Sally had successfully rescued several privately-owned chimpanzees, and she readily agreed to help. After exhausting other possibilities, she put in a call to colleagues at the Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta. They graciously agreed to temporarily house and quarantine the chimps at their field station in Lawrenceville, a short drive from Dahlonega. They further offered their vet services and a van to immobilize and transport the animals.

While these negotiations were underway, the owner was released from the hospital and returned home. Now, we’d need to get her cooperation. She finally agreed that the animals could be moved, but for various reasons, it had to be done on Thursday, November 13. As I headed for Georgia on Tuesday,we received a call from Sally saying that Yerkes would not have a vet available to help that day, but that they were otherwise ready to accept the chimps. The design of their cages would not allow us to transfer the chimpanzees without anesthetizing them, and while we had them “down” we wanted to perform complete physicals, as they had not had any veterinary care in nearly 20 years. We needed to find a qualified veterinary team, and quick!

We put in calls to ZooAtlanta and the Knoxville Zoo, but they were unable to help. In desperation, we called Dr. George Rabb, the director of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, hoping that he could maybe persuade a local zoo to help us. To our amazement, we received a call back within the hour offering the services of a Brookfield vet, an assistant and any equipment we needed. Dr. Tom Meehan and Vince Sodaro flew in to Atlanta the very next night, and we met to plan our strategy for the move the following morning.

With few hitches, the animals were immobilized, examined, and transported to the Yerkes Field Station the following morning. They spent the next ten months there while we set about the task of locating a permanent home for them. Although we were already housing seven young chimpanzees we took in when New York University closed their LEMSIP primate lab, the design of the facility under construction for them would only accommodate one or two additional animals.

We combed the United States, visiting sanctuaries and exploring options, in an attempt to find another sanctuary to provide a permanent home for these animals. What we found was discouraging, to say the least. With LEMSIP having dumped almost 100 chimpanzees on US sanctuaries prior to closing in late 1997 (including seven which we took in), nearly every space was full. The facilities that weren’t seemed to be having trouble caring for the animals they had, and simply could not insure the stable future that we felt the animals deserved. With time running out and our deadline looming, we came to the painful realization that we must somehow build housing to accommodate these animals.

We scrambled to rework our plans, contracted for an outdoor enclosure, and made plans to transport the five chimps to Kentucky. Although we missed our deadline for moving them out of Georgia, Yerkes agreed to a time extension while we readied temporary caging for them. Finally, the five chimps arrived at the Primate Rescue Center in the Fall of 1998. Although they have not yet had full contact introductions to the seven younger chimps, the older chimps have watched with curiosity as the young chimps have moved through our tunnel system to the outside enclosure. On July 6th, 1999 it was their turn to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.