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At the Animal Rights National Conference 2014
Each year since 2009, IPPL has been represented at the Animal Rights National Conference, which has been organized in various formats since the 1980s by the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), led by Dr. Alex Hershaft. The conference currently alternates between Los Angeles and Washington, DC. This year’s conference was held in Los Angeles. IPPL…
Gus’s birthday pops
OK, I confess: we don’t know Gus’s actual birth date. He was a former pet, and we never received his full records when he arrived at our sanctuary. But that’s no reason not to celebrate his “honorary” birthday, which we did last month with a popsicle party. Our Administrative Assistant Tina gladly recruited her…
World Cup Gibbon Training Camp 2014
Our gibbons have World Cup potential, no question. Whoop-Whoop already shows great kicking abilities. We’re just going to have to cure him of his tendency to bite the ball: Whoop-Whoop—even more so than Luis Suarez—has some very impressive canines! And watch Maui score his first goal! With just a little more energy, we think he…
It’s National Eat Your Vegetables Day!
Along the highways leading into Charleston we’ve seen billboards the last couple of months that ask us if we can name 20 vegetables in the next two miles. Our gibbons would have no trouble with this (apart from that language-barrier thing…). Can you name 20 veggies in, say, the next two minutes? As our senior…
Ape experts at our sanctuary
Say hello to Carol Fleming and her partner Keith Lloyd, two primate pros from the UK who have been spending a few days at the IPPL sanctuary! When I first started chatting with them, they claimed that they had led very boring lives. I’m sorry to tell you: they were lying. Carol started working…
Welcome, Spanky!
Today we accepted a new gibbon at the IPPL sanctuary! Spanky is an eight-year-old male, born October 18, 2005. He’s a white-handed gibbon from Texas who was given to his former “owner” as a gift when he was only eight months old. However, in March his owner contacted us, saying that she…
The world’s rarest primate
Did you know that the world’s rarest primate is actually a gibbon? The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is critically endangered. In fact, this ape is found only in the Bawangling Nature Reserve on Hainan Island, China, located in the South China Sea. There are fewer than 30 individuals left alive. This may not be…
Shirley’s birthday bash
Late Tuesday night Shirley arrived back at the office from her most recent travels, so the IPPL staff celebrated yesterday with a little late (only three days’ worth of belated…) birthday party! Did you forget to wish Shirley a happy birthday? Wish her a belated bodacious b-day on…
Our primate conservation conference 2014, in pictures
This past weekend, we held our 13th biennial Supporters’ Meeting on the grounds of the IPPL sanctuary. We hosted primate field workers from Africa, Asia, and the Americas, all from projects that IPPL has helped to support—sometimes for years! Attendees were able to interact one-on-one with our visiting speakers, enjoy the spring sunshine, and…
A tribute to Cyril Rosen
The late Cyril Rosen MBE was the man behind IPPL (UK), which flourished well over three decades from the time he established the British branch of IPPL in 1976. He passed away on December 21, 2013, at the age of 86. Photo of Cyril in Basel, © Howard Rosen According to his obituary…
Happy 80th Birthday to Dr. Jane Goodall
Dr. Jane turns 80 today—but she sent US a present! She recently recorded these special greetings just for IPPL: [field name=”jane-goodall-message”] Many thanks to Dr. Jane for her decades of hard work on behalf of chimpanzees and all primates—and a very happy birthday from everyone at IPPL.
An invitation to our 2014 meeting
We’re looking forward to our upcoming biennial Supporters’ Meeting. And today Shirley sends you this invitation: [field name=”Shirley-invitation-2014″] Join us April 11-13 at IPPL’s South Carolina gibbon sanctuary. Contact Shirley directly (smcgreal@ippl.org) for more information.
Spring cleaning squared
Tidying up the sanctuary grounds after the winter’s wind and rain is always a bit of a chore, but this year Mother Nature dealt us a double-whammy. Dual ice storms first weakened and then struck down tree limbs left and right, smashing everything in their path: buildings, fences, and our reliable old Ranger pickup—but fortunately…
A lip-smacking good time with Gus
Every day we feed our gibbons a variety of mixed veggies for breakfast. Lately, the menu has included peppers, beets, cauliflower, carrots, beans, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, and herbs like cilantro. Lunch is a changing assortment of fresh fruit, which for the past week has included apples, oranges, kiwi, papaya, cantaloupe, pineapple, and a few mangoes.…
Primate enrichment at WAR
Wildlife At Risk (WAR) is a nonprofit in Vietnam that is dedicated to the conservation of that country’s biodiversity and combating the illegal wildlife trade. They care for about 60 primates at two wildlife rescue centers (one in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Kien Giang province). They have even managed to release some…
Five fun facts about Erin on her birthday!
Erin turns 29 today! I’ll bet you didn’t know…. 1. Erin is a ninja. The story is that once when she was being darted for capture at a facility where she lived previously, she actually caught the dart in mid-air! (Sorry, no photo of that incident; you’ll have to take our word for it.) …
A second ice storm devastates the sanctuary
On Wednesday, February 12, 2014, the second ice storm in as many weeks hit IPPL’s gibbon sanctuary. That first storm, it turned out, had weakened numerous tree limbs, especially among our pines. The second onslaught sent huge branches—some weighing hundreds of pounds—crashing down from heights of over 50 feet. Our…
Monkey business in Sochi
The eyes of the world are on Sochi, where the Winter Olympics are starting today. But few people know that the Sochi area is home to the world’s first primate research laboratory. It was founded in 1927 under the name “Research Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy.” The original lab was established in the town…
