Member Profile: Dorothy and Thomas Heitjan
Primates are a “shoe-in” with Dorothy and Tom!
September 2006
Many females, so goes popular wisdom, have a fascination with shoes. But this attraction is not confined to human primates, as Dorothy discovered. In 1999 she had the opportunity to be an EarthWatch volunteer at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, Washington, USA. There, Dr. Roger Fouts has spent decades studying chimpanzee use of American Sign Language (readers may also recall that he spoke at IPPL's 2002 Members’ Meeting), particularly the communication abilities demonstrated by the female chimp, Washoe.
As Dorothy remembers, "I will never forget Washoe coming up to the window and signing 'shoe' (using American Sign Language). Everybody in the audience put their feet up for her to see all of the shoes. It was an amazing experience. There was no doubt in my mind as a professional in the field of speech-language pathology that Washoe was authentically communicating."
Dorothy works in the Grosse Pointe School System and has since 1992. She uses her master’s degrees in speech-language pathology and early childhood education to teach a special education preschool classroom for children with communication and developmental delays. As such, she naturally has an interest in special needs animals, too, and the unique communication abilities of nonhuman primates, both in wild and captive settings. She and her husband Tom visited IPPL this past July, and both were thrilled to meet Igor, one of IPPL’s “special needs” gibbons, who developed psychological problems while living in a laboratory for 26 years.
Dorothy and Tom have also become fascinated with a chimp named Knuckles, who lives at the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, and who has cerebral palsy, a developmental brain disorder that often results in a lack of motor control in the arms or legs. "Our opportunity to see Knuckles' progress has been very enriching for us both," they agree. Tom, in fact, first became interested in primates through learning about chimpanzees from the writings of Jane Goodall, while Dorothy initially became enamored of gorillas - "but now I'm a fan of all of the primate species!"
Dorothy and Tom met through Tom's work as a manager at a book store specializing in used and rare volumes (Dorothy's late father was an avid collector). Their family currently consists of one dog and three cats (all rescues), including a spunky Siamese/Tabby mix named Rudolph, who was the runner-up last year in the Michigan Humane Society Pet Apprentice Contest (which was modeled on Donald Trump's TV show "The Apprentice"). Their frequent visits to other primate facilities have led them to feel almost like part of an “extended family” of other nonhuman primates. In addition to IPPL's Igor and Knuckles the chimp, some of their favorite primates include the gorillas Pende and Sunshine at the Detroit Zoo—where Dorothy has volunteered as a docent for the past six years - and two of Tom's favorite chimps, Noelle and Chipper, at the Center for Great Apes.
Dorothy's work at the Detroit Zoo has also bolstered another primate family connection. When she and Tom visited IPPL this summer, they brought a photograph of one of the Detroit gibbons with them as a hostess gift. Bruce lives at the zoo with his mate Eve - but their son Donny has lived peacefully at IPPL since June 2001, after unhappy incidents at four previous zoos. Dorothy was delighted to see the family resemblance in Bruce's son!
Their affection for primates has led them to arrange their summer travel plans around locations where primates and fellow primate-lovers can be found. In the summer of 2004, they met up with IPPL's own Shirley McGreal at Canada's Rocky Mountain Gorilla Workshop in Calgary, Alberta. "We were really impressed with Shirley's knowledge, experience, and caring attitude towards all primates, nonhuman and human. The really neat thing about Shirley is that she is very approachable and willing to talk about primates with anyone who is interested in them. And Shirley's tireless activism on behalf of all primates and the sacrifices that she's made are truly admirable.” They were also “impressed with the breadth and depth of IPPL. The monthly newsletter contains so much vital information about how to advocate for primates all over the world."
When not traveling, they are eager to do their part to make the world a better place for primates and all animals. As a docent, Dorothy believes that zoos should strive to provide educational encounters for their visitors, hopefully inspiring them to care about and act to assist the species on display and their native habitats. She has a personal goal of advocating for primates by participating in letter and e-mail writing campaigns. She is also educating herself about cruelty-free consumer products. And both Dorothy and Tom would like to meet you at IPPL’s 2008 Members' Meeting!
