Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan - How it Works

As noted in my previous post, I plan to leave the Petition up indefinitely, to raise awareness for the Chimps.  As well it has almost reached its goal of 1000, so I'd like to see that number reached!

Reading through the comments has brought on tears since the beginning.  Thank you to everyone who put their thoughts to text.  I do want to mention that there were two recent comments in regards to the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan Chairman, Steve Ross.   These comments while I understand were made out of frustration based on the information shown on the News piece.  I do want to clarify for those who may share the same feelings, as there is more to our Chimps personal situation in regard to the overall general information that was shown.

Our Chimps as a Group have always been four at relatively the same age range.  In Human terms, this would be like a Family of siblings who never married, never had children and now at grandparent age, are still just the four of them.  

We lost Tallulah, the oldest female in 2013.  When this happened, I myself thought, what happens as time goes on, will one be left alone?  The thought was heartbreaking, but while I shared this thought with others, at the time I didn't know there would HAVE to be a plan in place to ensure that didn't happen.

What the SSP is looking for, as Steve Ross stated, is for captive Chimpanzee Groups to reflect complete Generational tiers.  He noted it as "in the wild",  which is accurate, but maybe some as zoo visitors, like myself would say, but they aren't in the wild.  This I think is wear the misunderstanding happens and unless you do research or know a bit more about the Chimps as individuals, its not something you might think of.

So, with our Group now down to three, something had to be done eventually to build a group that would have longevity and keep on going as our Seniors left us.  That would mean adding to the group more Chimps of varying ages, to create a Family.  Grandparent aged (ours), Reproductive age, and Young.  This way, when our Group got down to one, they would not be alone.  

The reason the situation with Our Chimps got to where is was, was because Zoo Management ignored the Chimps for years, even decades.  By ignoring them and providing no upgrades, they made it impossible for Our Chimps to live out their lives at the SFZoo unless a new home was built for them. They never thought to the future, what would happen if we lost one.  Then we did.  This put them in the dwindling position and something needed to be done to make sure one was not left alone. Think about how heartbreaking that would be.  After losing Tallulah, Director Peterson seemingly made surface inquiries in regard to building a new home, then abandoned that in favor of other priorities, knowing very well that then the end result would be Our Chimps would have to go and she was apparently fine with that, as she made no motion to raise funds for them to have that new home.  So, the desperate situation these Chimps were put in was because of reckless Zoo Management over the course of 18 years.  

I started out trying to only illustrate how the Chimpanzee SSP works, and I digressed a bit.  I didn't intend to, but this has been really upsetting and the facts of the situation are part of why this played out as it did.  Thankfully, for whatever reason Director Peterson has done the right thing for these Chimps and they will live out their lives at the SFZoo.  

Please read Steve Ross bio and be sure to click on the CARE link within this pages text.

http://www.lpzoo.org/conservation-science/resources/staff-bios/stephen-ross-phd