Chimps or Other Large Apes

I recommend gorillas. Let 'em run out and play.

Anybody who keeps a chimp or a large ape as a pet deserves to be killed and eaten in my opinion.

Sorry, no pets bigger than me. This goes for normal pets too: As badly as I wanted a rottweiler, I know I'll have to pass because they'll get heavier than me and thus harder for me to control (yeah, rotties can be pretty well trained, but if they get pissed off at something, I don't know that I'd be able to really control it). And the "no pets heavier than me" rule definitely applies to large apes.

I did not know that chimps could be dangerous at all until recently I had heard the story of a woman who literally had her face ripped off, and now must be living a horrid life. Since hearing that story I have heard of other accounts of chimp attacks. I think they should be treated just like any other wild animal.

The care they would need would be too much and they are dangerous chimps at least. It would probably be better for the other apes to be free also. After I saw what happened from the chimp attack in Connecticut and the other one at the chimp place it was too much and a really terrible attack so that it disfigured the person. They obviously hold a lot of resentment. It may be from being captured or just their usual way of acting. I felt sorry for them before too in the movies. I felt sorry for Bubbles that Michael Jackson had and when you think of it, it is really so terrible. Mainly this review is for the chimps. Really I was an extra on a movie with them - I didn't see them - and there was a flyer that said not to look at them. They would take that as a threat or something. It is too scary.

I love primates,but feel they belong in their natural habitat,which is tragically dissapearing.Even a Zoo Cage is a rotten deal for them.Human beings may think it's "cool" to own "extreme" pets.Well,it isn't.Animals are living beings,not possessions to stroke our egos.A Chimp or large primate is intelligent and cute,but WAY too strong to "play" with people.I had a friend who had a monkey,and even THAT caused her a lot of heartache and grief.(It murdered her kittens and hid them in a shoebox in the closet,for starters).If you love primates and would like to help them for FREE,visit www.care2.com and click the free donation button for the Jane Goodall group.

My house is regularly full of 12 year old boys right now. How much worse could it get?

A bad choice for a pet, but I think they are still pretty cool. Years ago when I worked for Domino's I used to deliver to this lady's house that was Rehabbing a chimp. Whenever her name came up on the list I would always try maneuver so I could be the one to deliver to her just so I could play with her monkey. (Not a metaphor, I just really thought this chimp was Awesome) Alas, eventually the chimp got better and she returned it to the zoo. A success story I guess, and I'm sure he was much better there, but the selfish part of me (the part that comprises 98% of my DNA) wished he was still there so I could play with him whenever I delivered to her house.

Radiolab actually had an excellent episode recently that featured the story of Lucy, a chimp who was raised from birth as a human by a psychologist in an experiment. The story is fascinating and insightful, but it's clear that no matter how they're raised, they're still too strong to live in a fragile human house, even lacking violent tendencies towards humans. Lucy thought herself to essentially be human to the point where she was devoted to her family and actually fearful of other chimps, but by the time she was an adult, she was so unintentionally destructive that they had to retrofit part of their house to be ape-proof, and ultimately examined their options to move her to the wild where she barely learned how to survive. Listen here: http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2010/02/19/lucy/ if you're interested.

Babies that are large enough to be destructive, who in the right mind would do this other those that are crazy for monkey love.

Well, first of all - even if they do bear a striking resemblance to the late George Burns - chimps are not MY ancestors. Please feel free to claim them as your own if you like. Considering how huge and out of control they grow to be, I would certainly not remove a chimp from the wild and attempt to raise it as a child. I feel very strongly that wild animals belong in their natural habitat where they stand the best chance of living a normal, happy life. There are plenty of dogs and cats in shelters and pounds to fill all our pet needs. Dragging animals out of the wild to play with and then toss aside is the height of selfishness.

Only for those with a death wish. The problem with chimps is that they are too similiar to humans and thus prone to violence.