Primate Welfare

Alex Re (00:01): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you, you're going to come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. On this episode, we're switching things up a little bit. We're talking about the wellbeing of primates and how keeping them in captivity can impact their behaviors and diminish their quality of life. And to learn more about this important topic, I've invited Devan Schowe who works at Born Free U S A to talk about it. So join me as we take a closer look at primate welfare.

(00:58): The ordered primates includes animals like monkeys, apes, lemurs, loris, and us among some others as well. These are some of our closest relatives, although we historically don't have the best relationship with them, we've kept monkeys and apes in horrible conditions for our own entertainment. Used them to test different drugs and cosmetics and hunted them out of their native habitats. Luckily, there are people out there like Devan Schowe, who work to conserve, protect, and rehabilitate primates as well as other animals that desperately need our help. So let's learn a little bit more about how Devan got interested in animal conservation.

Devan Schowe (01:39): During my undergraduate career, I knew I always wanted to do something with animals. I didn't know what. So at the school I went to, we had an animal behavior program, so I started studying that and I very quickly got interested in the individual welfare of captive wild animals. So one of the first kind of independent study projects I did, we looked at the individual welfare of leopard geckos in captivity. And that was kind of my first go at quantifying welfare in wild animals. And yeah, it was eyeopening. The individual personalities of the geckos was something that really stood out to me. They were all really different from each other just in how they spent their time. So that was really amazing to see. But I got really interested in improving the welfare of captive wild animals because most of them exhibit sies, which are abnormal, repetitive behaviors that are often signs of extreme stress or trauma they experienced early in life.

(02:46): So I got really interested in figuring out how to mediate those and lessen the expression of those and try to help the mental state of captive wild animals. And in doing that and doing that research, I realized that if most captive wild animals are experiencing that, then they probably shouldn't be in captivity at all if a lot of the things people try to do to lessen that just aren't working. So then I kind of gravitated a little bit away from focusing on that individual welfare and improving that in captivity and focusing more on how can we not have these wild animals in captivity in the first place, and how can we help them and help preserve their environments in which they're meant to live and that they've evolved to live in. So now I kind of have combined the two in working with born free. I get to do the conservation aspect and really try to keep wild animals where they belong in the wild, while also taking a more individual approach and kind of emphasizing that all animals are individuals and they deserve to live their own lives as we would.

Alex Re (03:57): Devan is doing amazing work to help animals in the wild and in captivity. She also mentioned that she's a campaign associate at Born Free U S A.

Devan Schowe (04:08): Born Free U S A is a animal conservation and welfare advocacy organization. So we campaign for things like wild animals in captivity. So the exotic pet trade, we do a lot of trapping work, so trying to stop trapping, trying to stop the fur trade, strengthen the Endangered Species Act. So we campaign for all of those things within North America. This year, recently we have been campaigning for the Captive Primate Safety Act that bill, if it were to be passed, it would basically be a federal legislation that would limit the private ownership of most primate species in addition to public interactions with them. So I helped write a report that we launched back in October that really emphasized the legislation as it stands in the United States and how it differs in the private ownership of primates per state. And it's really different. So just kind summarizing the issues with that. And then we also just recently released a report about elephants in captivity, elephants in zoos in Europe, the uk, and then North America. We just released that report a couple of weeks ago. So those are some of the projects I've been working on.

Alex Re (05:28): And if you've been on the internet in the past few years, you've probably seen videos of people with pet monkeys. If you look at the comments, everyone's talking about how they want one, but this is not where they were meant to be.

Devan Schowe (05:41): It's far from their best life. And most of them end up unfortunately at a sanctuary because it's not a life worth living at all. And I should actually say the fortunate ones are the ones end up at a sanctuary a lot of the time. It doesn't end up that way. And they basically live their life in a cage, a really small cage, neglected alone. So yeah, it's no life for them.

Alex Re (06:11): Now at Born Free U S A Devan has worked to rescue different monkeys.

Devan Schowe (06:16): We rescue primates from if they were kept as pets. So ex-pats those that have been retired from biomedical research, or if a zoo has lost funding or has closed or they just don't have space for those animals anymore, we rescue them. But in terms of species, we have all old world monkeys. So those are monkeys that evolved in either Africa or Asia. So we have several species of Maccas, and then we have a couple species of baboons, and then vervets as well.

Alex Re (06:46): Devan was previously the primate caretaker there. And while working with these monkeys, she observed behaviors that really show how intelligent they are.

Devan Schowe (06:56): They do things that are amazing and you kind of get less shocked as you continue working with them, but it never really loses its appeal. And that's why I honestly wanted to go into working with primates because they're so fascinating and they all have their own unique cultures in each of their species and within groups within their species. So they're all really different from each other. But I will say the one that stands out to me, so the primate sanctuary that Born Free U S A operates is in south Texas. And so a lot of monkeys will do alarm calls if they see a predator. So a lot of the time in south Texas that will be a snake, so a bull snake or a rattlesnake because all of the monkeys there live in semi-natural enclosures with access to grass and trees and plants and all that stuff.

(07:47): So we'll get the occasional snake, and there's a very specific alarm call. It kind of sounds like a scream. I don't want to do it because it'll probably blast your ears. But yeah, one monkey will see the snake and they will basically start this alarm call that's specific to that type of predator, and it will kind of alert all the other monkeys within the area that here is the predator, this is a snake. Here is its location, so don't come in this area. So that's really interesting. And I mean, there's no scientific support for this, but in my own experience, I have noticed they do an alarm call as well if we need to dart a monkey. So if we need to do chemical capture of a monkey with the dart gun for medical purposes, for veterinary care, I think that they also do a gun alarm call. But I would have to find some scientific study to kind of confirm that for sure. But yeah, it's very interesting.

Alex Re (08:51): It's so cool that they have different alarm calls for different threats. You could see how this would be beneficial in the wild because they might need different strategies to avoid varying types of predators. Now knowing how intelligent they are, I asked Devan if they have their own personalities, and you'll hear about that right after the break.

(09:23): The science word that I want to tell you about today is biodegradable. If something is biodegradable, that means it can be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms. So if it falls on the ground, it'll eventually be broken down and its nutrients will be put back into the soil. When you buy something at the supermarket, it's best to buy something that comes in a package that's biodegradable or else it could do some serious harm to the environment. For example, a plastic bag is not biodegradable and it takes a thousand years to degrade, but even after it does, it breaks down into tiny particles that are toxic to take in. That's why paper or reusable bags are a much better alternative. So do the monkeys that Devan worked with have their own personalities?

Devan Schowe (10:22): 100%, yeah. They're all individuals. They have an incredible amount of variation between each other from just their food preferences to their general nature of being and nature of interacting with people and other monkeys. Some monkeys are definitely more grumpy than others, and some monkeys seem to always be in a good mood and very affiliative with their friends and respectful almost. But someone keys are just kind of brats, for lack of a better word to each other. And sometimes to us, they make our routines a little bit more difficult, but that's the fun of it. It's never the same in animal care, even though you're working with the same individuals every day, it's always different. It's always a challenge, but it's always equally as rewarding because you get to know them as individuals and as their own beings. And so you get to implement that into the care of them as well. And that's what the Born Free sanctuary really strives to do, is focus on that individual welfare and take care of each monkey in relation to their own specific needs because they're not necessarily the same as another monkey. And just like people, their past experiences and their past environment really influences who they turn out to be. So if they were a pet, there are certain things about their personality that will be present, and if they were involved in research, same goes for them. So yeah, it's always different, but it's very rewarding to see.

Alex Re (11:58): I can imagine how amazing it must be to work there and get to interact with all these monkeys. If we could get more people to see how intelligent these animals are and how they have different personalities, I think we could get them to care more about their wellbeing

Devan Schowe (12:12): For sure. And we definitely try to publicize those more personal stories. So Darwin is one of our olive baboons, and he's one that we've released some blogs and different stories about. He's one of the sanctuary team's favorites because he just has this huge personality and he's known for, he always carries around this big plastic toy egg with him. We don't know why. He just really likes this egg. And so everywhere he goes in his big enclosure, he will push it in front of him and keep holding onto it. He'll sit on it when he sees you, he'll just watch you kind of cleaning around the area and he'll just sit on it like a little seat and watch you. So yeah, it's just funny, all the little quirks that they all have.

Alex Re (13:00): That is hilarious. Next, I wanted to know about some of the ways that humans are negatively impacting primates.

Devan Schowe (13:07): There's quite a few now, unfortunately, with how popular social media is and how popular it's gotten, especially with younger generations, the interest in owning exotic animals has actually increased over the past few years because of social media plays a really large role in that. So unfortunately, when people see even a picture or a video of a human directly physically interacting with a primate or any other wild animal, it makes that person feel like that animal isn't endangered in the wild. Because if they're endangered in the wild, why would they be living in someone's house? It doesn't add up, but it's still there. And secondly, when people see those images, they think the animals are safe to interact with and they're safe to keep as a pet, when in reality, wild animals like primates are not domesticated. They have all of their natural instincts. They never lose that over time.

(14:05): People like to call some wild animals tame if they've been trained in certain ways. But I mean, you can't predict how any wild animal is going to act, especially if they're raised by people. They lose their natural fear of the threat they would perceive of humans if they were in the wild when they're raised by them. And unfortunately, that makes them way more aggressive, way more unpredictable, way more dangerous to be interacting with. So social media, unfortunately, you only see the positive side of owning a primate on being posted on Facebook or Instagram. So you'll see people cuddling with a baby monkey, or you'll see people bathing a baby monkey and they'll say It's really cute, but you don't see when they grow up and they are sitting in a small cage by themselves miserable or destroying the house or escaping, inviting people. You just don't see those videos as much as the cute ones. So it's unfortunate, but that is something that we are working to campaign against and raise awareness on so that people know what happens when they share or comments on videos that feature that content.

Alex Re (15:20): It's important to remember that on social media, you're only seeing what other people want you to see. These aren't cats or dogs. They're not meant to be pets. Devan has noticed that primates who have been mistreated have changes in what their natural behavior would be.

Devan Schowe (15:36): It's maybe the most obvious in primates that were kept as pets because in the pet trade, a lot of the time they are taken away from their mother within the first few days of being born as an infant when in the wild they would spend at the very minimum one year, one whole year with their mother, learning from them being nurtured by them getting social and emotional stimulation from them. So when that happens, it's very traumatic, obviously, for the mother and baby, but their brains don't develop properly. So as a way to cope with that stress and the stress of being in captivity when they're not supposed to be, and in really barren environments, they will develop these coping behaviors to lessen that stress in the moment. So a lot of our ex-Pat primates will exhibit those sies that I was talking about, the abnormal repetitive behaviors that they use as coping mechanisms in times of high stress.

(16:34): So that can look like they will bite themselves, they will rock, they will roll their head around, they will pace back and forth for hours. They will self pluck their hair out, they will over groom so that they have bald spots on their arms or legs. So there's quite a few behaviors that we see at the sanctuary even after rescue, because unfortunately, once those behaviors are developed, even if you change the environment, they remain so they can decrease in frequency if they're more stimulated for sure, which we try to do in every way we can. But unfortunately those are kind of lifelong behaviors and they will continue to use those behaviors as coping mechanisms pretty much for the rest of their lives.

Alex Re (17:24): You can probably even observe these behaviors when you go to a zoo, not just in primates, but many different animals. I know I've observed this behavior, especially in tigers,

Devan Schowe (17:36): It is very present in zoo animals. So that's one of the other reasons we really do campaign against zoos to have those big carnivores and big charismatic species because their home range sizes are so large that it is absolutely impossible to replicate any of that or any of what they would do on a daily basis for their natural behaviors in a captive environment that's so small like a zoo. So they've developed those kind of sies as a result of just being so restricted in what they are meant to be doing naturally. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but very prevalent.

Alex Re (18:22): What can the average person do to help primates and other animals that are mistreated?

Devan Schowe (18:27): Yeah, the average person can actually do quite a few things to help. So first I would say pay attention to social media. Don't view like share, even comment, even if you're saying, this is bad, we shouldn't be doing this. Even if you comment on it in that way, it still increases the popularity of that video and the visibility of that video. So I would say report videos that are not featuring beneficial content to wildlife. Don't share anything that might be harmful. Secondly, I think it's important also to really research places that have wild animals in captivity before you go. And if possible, just don't go unless it's a credible sanctuary. Don't support people who are exploiting wild animals for their own benefit. And third, I would say to reach out to your local lawmakers. Tell them that you support bills like the Captive Primate Safety Act that would ban the ownership and public interactions with most primate species.

(19:34): Tell them that you care about that. Tell them that it's something that you think this country needs because it does every day that primates are allowed and legal to be kept in private ownership. It's a threat to the public safety of people. It's a threat to public health, and it's a threat to the wellbeing of the animals themselves. So I would say those are probably the top three. And then fourth, I would also suggest Born Free has an adoption program, and you can adopt symbolically. You can adopt one of our, or as many as you would like, you can adopt the Sanctuary monkeys. And on our website we have a page and it has bios of all of these monkeys that you can adopt, and every dollar that you send us goes directly toward the sanctuary and helping the monkeys. So whether that's medication or food or enrichment items that would go directly towards that.

Alex Re (20:29): There are so many things that we can all do to help. So be aware of what you're viewing and sharing on social media because we could all be causing more harm than we think we are, and I would definitely recommend adopting a monkey too. If you want to help primates and just animals in general that are being mistreated, go check out Born Free U S A. You can also take a look at the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Humane Society. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me. As we talked about Primate Welfare, you can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife, or on TikTok at Wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode, and that's On Wildlife.

Jess Avellino (21:34): You've Been listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional financial, real estate, tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.