The Reunion Of A Rescued Chimpanzee With Its Caregivers Is Not What It Seems
Recently, a video of a rescued chimpanzee reconnecting with its caregivers became famous. In the Internet age, we must be careful about what we share and disseminate, because not all the touching stories we find online are what they seem.
Limbani, the rescued chimpanzee
Limbani is apparently a rescued chimpanzee, but he is also a real star. Your videos hugging tigers or playing with people go viral on social media instantly.
The truth is, things aren’t always what they seem to be, and while the official story is that Limbani was rescued by the Zoological Wildlife Foundation, the truth is that there is no clarity about the altruistic role of this US-based foundation.
According to the center, the mother rejected Limbani, who had a respiratory illness, so he had to be raised away from her.
Rescue or altruism?
This American center is not only home to Limbani, but also other species of primates and big cats.
The common denominator of these animals is that they are humanized cubs whose time is very precious: the company charges visitors hundreds of dollars to spend time playing with a young lion or with Limbani himself.
This turns the viral images of Limbani and other animals hosted by the foundation into huge publicity so people are eager to take a picture with them for their social media. Does this work still seem altruistic?
Another strange aspect of Limbani’s life is that his caregivers always keep him dressed. However, an organization truly committed to the rescue of animals should be concerned with raising them in less humanized environments, without the presence of clothing.
After all, dressing the animal not only promotes the normalization of seeing a chimpanzee in clothes, but it also doesn’t benefit it in the future.
the consequences of fame
Will Limbani live with other chimpanzees when he is an adult? It will be difficult, not to say impossible: he is being raised among humans and learning to communicate. So he’s going to spend his whole life among humans?
This is most likely not the case, as chimpanzees become dangerous and become very strong during adolescence. This is another example of why it’s not possible to have a monkey as a pet.
Normalize the situation
What happens when we share videos of a rescued chimpanzee like this? We do free publicity and publicity for the center in question, in addition to normalizing images in which a wild animal is seen in a house, wearing clothes and playing with people.
In this way, we are normalizing the fact that he is living in a place far away from where tigers, lions or chimpanzees should live, from their natural habitat.
Although it is a rescued chimpanzee, the truth is that this does not seem to justify its use as a circus monkey. It should be said that, in many countries, animals like these are apprehended and any zoo can receive them claiming to have rescued them.
However, what conditions are offered to these animals? What activities do the centers carry out with them? Unfortunately, not everything that looks like an animal rescue is actually a rescue.
So, if you’re afraid to share this type of content on social media, what you should do is very simple. Do not share images that include wild animals in humane environments, wearing clothes or on a sofa hugging a dog, for example.
Share videos and images where they appear in their natural habitat, so as not to encourage ownership. Also, remember that any serious rescue center will raise these animals with members of their species.
