Post by mefousue on Oct 28, 2006 9:28:00 GMT -5
By Erik Johns / OCTOBER 26, 2006
> Among the conditions cited in a 33-page court filing were allegations of
> a female chimp eating her young, frequent and unreported animal escapes,
> accumulated feces, inadequate feeding, and an aggressive male baboon
> that kept a female prisoner in a crib.
>
>
> Ohio State closed down its nationally renowned but financially
> floundering Chimpanzee Cognition Center in February. The chimps went to
> an animal retirement facility in Texas, and the researcher who studied
> them went into an emotional tailspin over the loss of her animals.
>
> Sally Boysen chained herself to a fence to keep the university from
> taking the nine chimps from the research facility she oversaw, dubbing
> it a "commando raid."
>
> She called Primarily Primates, the San Antonio-based sanctuary where the
> chimps went, a "dumping ground" for chimps and made allegations of poor
> living conditions and bad management.
>
> Ohio State assured the public that Primarily Primates was a sound
> facility. It passed muster with an inspection team sent by the
> university.
>
> Even after two of the nine OSU chimps died at the facility, the
> university soothingly contended it was a shipshape sanctuary.
>
> Though Ohio State's handling of the process looked clumsy and callous,
> Boysen didn't always come off as a calm, reasoned spokeswoman for
> herself and the
> chimpanzees.
>
> It sometimes appeared her attachment to her subjects kept her from
> giving OSU and Primarily Primates the objective benefit of the doubt.
>
> But it now appears that Boysen's concerns were more valid than even she
> could have feared: The university sent not only its prize primates but
> hundreds of thousands of dollars to a facility that might have been
> better run by trained chimps.
>
> Two weeks ago, the Texas attorney general's office ordered the sanctuary
> seized and its founder, Wallace Swett Jr., removed from power as
> accusations of inhumane living conditions and financial impropriety
> mounted.
>
> "These were abominable conditions for any animal," said Tom Kelley, a
> spokesman for Texas AG Greg Abbott. "Very horrendous conditions inside."
>
> Among those conditions, cited in a 33-page court filing, were
> allegations of a female chimp eating her young, frequent and unreported
> animal escapes, accumulated feces, inadequate feeding, an aggressive
> male baboon that kept a female prisoner in a crib, and breeding
> activities that should not have been taking place at a sanctuary.
>
> The Texas AG also contends Swett used charitable donations to buy booze
> and was intoxicated when authorities arrived to take control on Oct. 13.
>
> "The revelations were not news to me," Boysen said Wednesday. "I knew
> about all that."
>
> Boysen plans to go to Texas Friday to meet with the various groups
> involved, although neither she nor Ohio State is a party to the legal
> action. It will also be her first chance to see the chimps since
> February.
>
> The animals are still at the sanctuary but under the eye of a
> state-appointed caretaker who is cleaning up the facility and assessing
> their health.
>
> Boysen is hopeful that the OSU chimps will be relocated to another
> facility, but finding a location that can accept them and getting
> funding for care lined up is a time-consuming process.
>
> "The current (caretaker) was given permission to relocate animals that
> were in dire straits," she said. "The unfortunate thing is that these
> processes don't always move as fast as you'd like."
>
> As part of the chimp transfer, Ohio State sent $250,000 to Primarily
> Primates to construct a new sanctuary structure specifically for the OSU
> animals. The authorities in Texas still aren't sure where that money
> went.
>
> "That's what we're in the process of finding out," Kelley said. "We want
> that to be accounted for, along with a lot of other misspent funds."
>
> Swett's lawyer, Eric Turton, denies all the allegations and said he
> looks forward to pleading his client's case in a hearing Friday.
>
> "Our side of the story has never been told to the judge," Turton said.
> "We deny the accusations, and we're going to be litigating this."
>
> Now, with Texas officials' d**ning report in the public domain, Ohio
> State is responding with a sheepish shrug.
>
> "We've been pretty much out of the information loop down there,"
> university spokesman Earle Holland said. "We're pretty much in the dark
> as far as what the status is."
>
> "We're sitting on the sidelines."
>
> An Ohio State team led by veterinarian Thomas Butler, board chairman of
> a Louisiana facility called Chimp Haven and a leading expert on chimp
> care, cleared Primarily Primates to take the chimps after on-site
> visits.
>
> Was the university hoodwinked?
>
> "I don't think that's possible," Holland said. "When you have people
> with the qualifications Dr. Butler has, I don't think it's possible to
> pull the wool over their eyes."
>
> "We did due diligence in inspecting the place," he said. "We had not
> seen any indication that Primarily Primates had not lived up to our
> expectations."
>
> Ohio State President Karen Holbrook was out of town and unavailable for
> comment.
>
> Holland said Ohio State did nothing wrong in its handling of the
> situation, but he admits the current situation is unfortunate for both
> the school and the chimps.
>
> "Hindsight," he said, "is always 20/20."
>
> Among the conditions cited in a 33-page court filing were allegations of
> a female chimp eating her young, frequent and unreported animal escapes,
> accumulated feces, inadequate feeding, and an aggressive male baboon
> that kept a female prisoner in a crib.
>
>
> Ohio State closed down its nationally renowned but financially
> floundering Chimpanzee Cognition Center in February. The chimps went to
> an animal retirement facility in Texas, and the researcher who studied
> them went into an emotional tailspin over the loss of her animals.
>
> Sally Boysen chained herself to a fence to keep the university from
> taking the nine chimps from the research facility she oversaw, dubbing
> it a "commando raid."
>
> She called Primarily Primates, the San Antonio-based sanctuary where the
> chimps went, a "dumping ground" for chimps and made allegations of poor
> living conditions and bad management.
>
> Ohio State assured the public that Primarily Primates was a sound
> facility. It passed muster with an inspection team sent by the
> university.
>
> Even after two of the nine OSU chimps died at the facility, the
> university soothingly contended it was a shipshape sanctuary.
>
> Though Ohio State's handling of the process looked clumsy and callous,
> Boysen didn't always come off as a calm, reasoned spokeswoman for
> herself and the
> chimpanzees.
>
> It sometimes appeared her attachment to her subjects kept her from
> giving OSU and Primarily Primates the objective benefit of the doubt.
>
> But it now appears that Boysen's concerns were more valid than even she
> could have feared: The university sent not only its prize primates but
> hundreds of thousands of dollars to a facility that might have been
> better run by trained chimps.
>
> Two weeks ago, the Texas attorney general's office ordered the sanctuary
> seized and its founder, Wallace Swett Jr., removed from power as
> accusations of inhumane living conditions and financial impropriety
> mounted.
>
> "These were abominable conditions for any animal," said Tom Kelley, a
> spokesman for Texas AG Greg Abbott. "Very horrendous conditions inside."
>
> Among those conditions, cited in a 33-page court filing, were
> allegations of a female chimp eating her young, frequent and unreported
> animal escapes, accumulated feces, inadequate feeding, an aggressive
> male baboon that kept a female prisoner in a crib, and breeding
> activities that should not have been taking place at a sanctuary.
>
> The Texas AG also contends Swett used charitable donations to buy booze
> and was intoxicated when authorities arrived to take control on Oct. 13.
>
> "The revelations were not news to me," Boysen said Wednesday. "I knew
> about all that."
>
> Boysen plans to go to Texas Friday to meet with the various groups
> involved, although neither she nor Ohio State is a party to the legal
> action. It will also be her first chance to see the chimps since
> February.
>
> The animals are still at the sanctuary but under the eye of a
> state-appointed caretaker who is cleaning up the facility and assessing
> their health.
>
> Boysen is hopeful that the OSU chimps will be relocated to another
> facility, but finding a location that can accept them and getting
> funding for care lined up is a time-consuming process.
>
> "The current (caretaker) was given permission to relocate animals that
> were in dire straits," she said. "The unfortunate thing is that these
> processes don't always move as fast as you'd like."
>
> As part of the chimp transfer, Ohio State sent $250,000 to Primarily
> Primates to construct a new sanctuary structure specifically for the OSU
> animals. The authorities in Texas still aren't sure where that money
> went.
>
> "That's what we're in the process of finding out," Kelley said. "We want
> that to be accounted for, along with a lot of other misspent funds."
>
> Swett's lawyer, Eric Turton, denies all the allegations and said he
> looks forward to pleading his client's case in a hearing Friday.
>
> "Our side of the story has never been told to the judge," Turton said.
> "We deny the accusations, and we're going to be litigating this."
>
> Now, with Texas officials' d**ning report in the public domain, Ohio
> State is responding with a sheepish shrug.
>
> "We've been pretty much out of the information loop down there,"
> university spokesman Earle Holland said. "We're pretty much in the dark
> as far as what the status is."
>
> "We're sitting on the sidelines."
>
> An Ohio State team led by veterinarian Thomas Butler, board chairman of
> a Louisiana facility called Chimp Haven and a leading expert on chimp
> care, cleared Primarily Primates to take the chimps after on-site
> visits.
>
> Was the university hoodwinked?
>
> "I don't think that's possible," Holland said. "When you have people
> with the qualifications Dr. Butler has, I don't think it's possible to
> pull the wool over their eyes."
>
> "We did due diligence in inspecting the place," he said. "We had not
> seen any indication that Primarily Primates had not lived up to our
> expectations."
>
> Ohio State President Karen Holbrook was out of town and unavailable for
> comment.
>
> Holland said Ohio State did nothing wrong in its handling of the
> situation, but he admits the current situation is unfortunate for both
> the school and the chimps.
>
> "Hindsight," he said, "is always 20/20."
>