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A R T I C L E S Palm Beach Post, March 15, 2001 Jane Goodall Tours Sanctuary New chimp facility founded by former student of renowned primate researcher By Suzanne Robinson (Fort Pierce) Tribune Staff Writer ST. LUCIE COUNTY -- Jane Goodall, renowned for her pioneering chimpanzee research in Africa, visited St. Lucie County on Wednesday to tour the world's newest chimpanzee sanctuary. "It's just magical," Goodall said of Save the Chimps, which was founded by her former student, Carole Noon. Noon worked and studied at Goodall's chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia, Africa. The 150-acre, $1.3 million sanctuary west of Fort Pierce will serve as a retirement home for 21 chimpanzees that served as research subjects in the early days of the U.S. space program. The Air Force was going to hand the chimps over to a biomedical research firm until Noon sued for custody. With Goodall's support and the financial backing of organizations like the Doris Day Animal League and the Arcus Foundation, Noon was able to create a place for them to live out their lives in peace. Goodall was thrilled with the fruits of her former student's labors and wishes there were more sanctuaries for the 600 chimps currently being used for medical research. However, "not many people have the affection for animals or the sheer guts to build something like this," Goodall said. When the 21 lucky chimps arrive at their new home in a few months, Goodall imagines they'll feel "rather like a man coming out of a small dark cave." The chimps are currently living in small cages at an Air Force facility in New Mexico -- a situation Goodall finds appaling. "They are sentient, sapient beings. We have no justification to lock them in tiny cells," she said. "They're more like us than any other living creature." People want to believe that human beings are vastly superior to their hairy cousins, but that is simply not true, Goodall insists. Research has shown that chimps think, feel, and communicate in ways almost identical to man, she said. "We keep breaking the barriers down," she said. "They show us that there isn't a sharp line between us and the rest of the animal kingdom." After years of court battles with the government for custody of chimps -- then building a home for them -- Noon was thrilled to finally have her mentor at her side Wednesday. "She sent me out into the world. I did my job, and now she's here," Noon said. "It's marvelous." | |||||||||||||||
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