Primate People: Saving Nonhuman Primates Through Education, Advocacy, & Sanctuary

In the last 30 years the bushmeat trade has led to the slaughter of nearly 90% of West Africa's bonobos, perhaps our closest relatives. Another West African species, Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey, was recently driven to extinction by the human appetite for their flesh. Earth was once rich with primates, but every species—except one—is now extinct or endangered because of that one primate—Homo sapiens. How have our economic and cultural practices pushed our cousins toward destruction? Would we care more about their fate if we knew something of their individual lives and sufferings? Would we help nonhuman primates if we understood how our choices threaten their existence? This anthology answers “yes” to these questions. Primate People is divided into three sections. The first section introduces forces that threaten nonhuman primates, such as the entertainment and “pet” industries, the bushmeat trade, logging, and habitat destruction. The second section exposes the exploitation of primates in research facilities, including both the painful memories of an undercover agent and suggests models of more enlightened scientific methods. The final section tells the stories of those who lobby for change, educate communities, and tenderly care for our displaced cousins in sanctuaries. Primate People is sometimes shocking and disturbing, sometimes poignant and encouraging, but always draws the reader into the lives of nonhuman primates. The eyes and voices of activists around the world reveal the antics and pleasures of De Brazza's monkeys, the tendencies and idiosyncrasies of chimpanzees, and the sufferings and fears of macaques. Charming, difficult, sensitivethese testimonies demonstrate that nonhuman primates and human beings are, indeed, closely related. Woven into this anthology's lucid narratives are the stories of how we harm and create the conditions that endanger primates, and what we can and must do to prevent their ongoing suffering and fast-approaching extinction.