Pepper (RIP)
I logged on to facebook the other day and I saw a post that Pepper the chimp had passed away. Pepper
was born in 1970 and spent her first 27 years in research, first at a Merck,
Sharp & Dohme laboratory, followed by seven years at the Buckshire
Corporation. When she became too strong to control, she was sent to the NYU Laboratory for Experimental Medicine
and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP). Pepper spent some time in
breeding, but was mostly used for research, including some 307 knockdowns, 36 punch liver biopsies,
one open wedge liver biopsy, six cervical biopsies, 10 lymph node biopsies, and
four bone marrow biopsies. In the lab, Pepper was plagued by fear and anxiety,
and would rather starve herself than face an unpleasant situation. Luckily she
spent the end of her life in Sanctuary at Fauna but unfortunately so many
others do not.
I never met pepper of
course but reading about her in the book The Chimps Fauna Sanctuary make me feel as if
I did. It would be nice if everyone reading this post would go here and make a
small donation to the Fauna Foundation in Peppers honor.
References:
The
Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A True Story of Resilience and Recovery by Andrew Westoll
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