Member Profile: Valerie Buchanan Cornejo

A world traveler “Dances with Chimps”
April 2007

When Valerie was a girl growing up in Southern California and dreaming of becoming a dancer, she probably never thought that her life would include “Dances with Chimps.” But when she found herself in a small zoo in western Africa looking at two lonely female chimpanzees, each inexplicably housed in isolation from the other, she knew she would have to do something about it.

Back in 1998, Valerie’s then-husband Tim Buchanan (who had a career in the mining industry) had accepted a contract job in Ghana. The two of them had left the U.S. to live in a mining bush camp one and a half hours’ drive from the nearest town of Kumasi. “On one of my weekly shopping visits into town, I asked if there was a zoo in Kumasi,” she recalls. When she found there was, she decided to check it out, though she entered the grounds not really knowing what to expect. “To my surprise, I saw there were two female chimpanzees living there for two decades in separate enclosures.”

Thus began the “Kumasi Zoo Chimpanzee Project,” a five-year campaign that should probably be called “Dances with Officials,” as she undertook numerous six-hour trips to Accra (the capital of Ghana) on a two-lane, pothole- filled road crammed with speeding traffic. Eventually she managed to get an appointment with Ghana’s Director of Wildlife to ask his permission to build a new enclosure for Afua and Cecelia so that they could finally be together. Her persistence paid off. Thanks to the generosity of IPPL’s members and the expertise of IPPL’s Shirley McGreal and Save the Chimps founder Carole Noon, the Kumasi chimps were successfully and happily united in August 2004, as reported in IPPL News (April 2005, page 12). It was a lesson in the value of persistence.

Valerie describes herself as a “long time and 100 percent supporter of all that IPPL does.” She has years of happy memories with her dear companion, Bandit (inset).

Actually, Valerie had already learned something about dedication to the wellbeing of primates from the inspirational Sheila Siddle, who with her late husband David founded the Zambian wildlife sanctuary Chimfunshi in 1983. In 1989, Valerie and Tim had moved to Chingola, Zambia, where Tim had taken a two-year contract position. Valerie was happy to find like-minded people in their new neighborhood when she volunteered as kennel supervisor for the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That was where she first met Sheila and heard about her work. “Sheila invited us to the sanctuary, and I instantly fell in love with the baby chimpanzees, especially Pippa. I learned of the problems with the primate trade and how all the chimps and other wild animals there had been confiscated from poachers — and chimpanzees aren’t even native to Zambia! Sheila agreed to let me come to the sanctuary and volunteer for a week. That was when I met Dr. Carole Noon, who told me about IPPL and taught me more about how much primates are in need of help.”

Valerie never felt the need to do hands-on primate rescue work, so, she explained, she does not have any plans to start a primate sanctuary of her own. She feels herself better suited as educator and organizer. In these roles she still pursues her animal interests in less exotic locales (though Las Vegas, Nevada, where she has lived for the past five years, may be considered pretty exotic to some). She maintains an action alert Web site that lists items in need of attention (www.ccforaction.com) and advocates for causes such as the passage of animal control ordinances that include regulations to keep primates out of the hands of private pet owners.

How did this vegan of 12 years come to care for animals so much? She notes that she grew up with them: “We always had a family dog as well as hamsters. My parents always taught us kids to respect and be kind to all living beings.” But she really gives the credit to Bandit, the dog who was her dear friend for 14 years. “She was such a kind, sweet soul, and she taught me more about giving and forgiving than anyone ever has in all of my life experiences,” said Valerie. Bandit showed her how to help those who can’t speak for themselves— even the injured hamster who, after being discovered by Bandit one spring evening, took up residence in Valerie’s backyard until the little creature passed away from old age four years later. Thinking about all the animals in her life for this interview naturally made Valerie think of one of her dearest companion animals: “It brought back a lot of memories about Bandit and all the years we shared before she passed away in October 2006. I am still devastated that she has gone from this world, but I know I will see her again.”

Valerie still enjoys traveling, and IPPL’s biennial Members’ Meeting has been a consistent point on her itinerary since the early 1990s. “The meetings are so encouraging and uplifting. The camaraderie keeps me motivated when frustration sets in, and it’s such an inspiration to hear and meet all those doing so much great work for the primates. I always meet someone new and always learn something I didn’t know.”

Meetings like this also give her hope for the future, at least with respect to primates being kept as pets. “As legislators get better educated and the general public as well, I hope to see a big decrease in private ownership,” she says. She is also optimistic that the near future will bring her more opportunities to personally advocate on behalf of primates: “A chimp or other primate in need will somehow find me and, as I always do, I will run with the ball to help them.” In the meantime, she will tend to those animals in her reach— the songbirds and hummingbirds that frequent her feeders, Raja the Dalmatian, and Sugar the patient Burmese cat (who are both a part of her life courtesy of her new husband, Carlos Cornejo).

And she still dreams of more extensive travels — back to Africa, say, to visit some of the sanctuaries with which IPPL cooperates, like the chimpanzee rescue center Tacugama in Sierra Leone, or back to Chimfunshi, where her “love and passion to help the primates began so many years ago.”