Henry’s chance for a new life arrived when he was rescued. For 15 years, he had existed like this, living as a “pet.” It was reported that in his early years he was moved from owner to owner and was known to have been badly abused. Henry was rescued in 2009 when animal control officers found him in a rusty cage in a garage in Houston, Texas. Zoos often cannot take the chimp since they were never taught proper chimpanzee social behaviors. When a human owner realizes they cannot appropriately care for the chimp, it’s difficult to find a place for them to go.In captivity, chimps live for a long time – upwards of 60 years – which means a lifelong plan is needed for their care, even after their human owner passes away.Veterinary care for chimpanzees is very complex, specialized, and difficult to find.Purchasing a baby chimp is expensive, and it is expensive to feed and house them appropriately.When chimpanzees reach sexual maturity, their natural instincts to climb the dominance hierarchy emerge, which leads to aggression. A mature chimpanzee possesses 5 – 6 times the strength of a human! By the age of five a chimpanzee has usually grown too strong for a human to handle.When infant chimpanzees are taken from their families, they do not develop appropriate species social skills, and do not know how to interact with other chimpanzees. Chimpanzee infants are totally dependent on their biological mother and learn life skills from living in their chimpanzee family.To become a pet, they must be taken from their mothers at a very early age, which often means the mother is killed in order to access the baby chimp. In the wild, chimpanzees stay with their mothers until they are at least five years old and often travel with her until they are young adults.In many locations having a chimpanzee as a pet is illegal.There are a number of reasons why having a chimpanzee as a pet is incredibly detrimental to the chimpanzee and dangerous to the human owner: Baby chimpanzees are, of course, incredibly cute, which makes some people believe they can raise them the same way they would a domesticated pet. At Chimp Haven, we strongly believe that chimpanzees should be able to live their lives with other chimps, in an environment that allows them to exhibit natural chimpanzee behaviors.Ĭhimpanzees should never be kept as pets - they are undomesticated wild animals and they do not make good pets.
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