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WHILE TRAVELING AROUND THE COUNTRY to report on the conditions in which captive chimpanzees in America live, Charles Siebert visited a retirement home for former ape movie stars and circus entertainers in Wauchula, Florida, known as the Center for Great Apes. There Siebert encountered Roger, a twenty-eight-year-old former Ringling Bros. star who not only preferred the company of people to that of his fellow chimps but seemed utterly convinced that he knew the author from some other time and place.
"Mostly I was struck by Roger's stare," writes Siebert, "his deep-set hazel eyes peering out at me with what, to my deep discomfort, I'd soon realize is their unchanging expression. It is a beguiling mix of amazement and apprehension, the look, as I've often thought of it since, of a being stranded between his former self and the one we humans have long been suggesting to him. A sort of hybrid of a chimp and a person. A veritable 'humanzee.'"
Haunted by Roger's demeanor, Siebert promptly moved into a cottage on the grounds of the Center for Great Apes, spending day after day with Roger, trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious connection between them. And then late one night, awakened by the cries of chimpanzees, a sleepless and troubled Siebert suddenly began to conjure a secret, predawn encounter with his new cross-species confidant, an apparently one-sided conversation that, in fact, takes us to the very heart of the author's relationship with Roger and of our relationship with our own captive primal selves.
The result is The Wauchula Woods Accord, a strikingly written, wide-ranging physical and metaphysical foray out along the increasingly fraught frontier between humans and animals; a journey that encompasses many of the author's encounters with chimpanzees and other animals, as well as the latest scientific discoveries that underscore our intimate biological bonds not only with our nearest kin but with far more remoteseeming life-forms.
By journey's end, the reader arrives at a deeper understanding both of Roger and of our numerous other animal selves, a recognition — an accord — that carries a new sense of responsibility for how we view and treat all animals, including ourselves.
Review:
In February, a 14-year-old pet chimpanzee named Travis — a former actor in Coca-Cola and Old Navy commercials who used a computer, drank wine from a long-stemmed glass and had no previous history of violence — was shot dead by police after he escaped from his owner's Stamford, Conn., house and nearly killed a woman he had known for years. In a New York Times op-ed article about the incident, journalist... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Charles Siebert observed that, like humans, chimps have "minds enough to lose and memories that can hasten the process." Now, in "The Wauchula Woods Accord," Siebert provides a book-length exploration of the role humans play in inflicting mental disorders on intelligent animal species, particularly great apes. Siebert relates numerous accounts like that of Travis — including the sad story of Travis' mother, who had also been shot dead after an escape. According to Siebert, the 3,000 or so chimps who live in this country — a group that includes diaper-wearing infants who perform at children's birthday parties, suit-and-tie clad TV actors and research laboratory subjects — are likely to be severely traumatized creatures. Such chimps might have witnessed the slaughter of their mothers, often the only way female chimpanzees in the wild will relinquish their babies. Or, if bred in captivity, they would have been separated from their mothers prematurely and raised in isolation from chimpanzee society. These damaged creatures can grow to weigh 200 pounds, become much stronger than humans and live until they are in their 70s. Many of these animals end up in dusty roadside zoos or commercial breeding facilities. The more fortunate ones find refuge in state-of-the-art sanctuaries such as the Center for Great Apes near Wauchula, Fla. It is there that Siebert encountered Roger, a former cellist in the Ringling Brothers' all-chimp orchestra who shuns other chimps. Upon meeting Roger, Siebert experienced an extraordinary sense of recognition that he believed was mutual. "The moment Roger saw me last week," Siebert recalls, "he seemed utterly convinced that we knew each other. Actually stood and applauded ... As though to say, 'oh you. Finally. Where have you been?'" Siebert structures the book around his one-night vigil outside Roger's cage. It's a somewhat awkward contrivance, but it does provide an organizing framework for the account, which combines investigative journalism, science writing and memoir. As the hours pass, Siebert muses about the apparent bond between himself and the animal, considers Roger's individual history, tells the often tragic stories of other captive chimps, summarizes what is known about chimp intelligence and ponders the relationship between humans and our fellow primates. In cataloging the many ways we abuse apes, Siebert rightly includes domesticating them as family members and surrogate humans, practices that deny them their otherness. We have, he suggests, created beings that are neither human nor fully ape: "humanzees," he calls them. Yet his emphasis on the interconnectedness of human and nonhuman animals and his memoiristic rendering of his encounters with Roger — "Who or what is Roger? That, as absurd as it may sound, is the question I often feel he is asking me." — at times make Siebert seem guilty of the very sentimentalizing he criticizes. Still, while Siebert does not aspire to the philosophical depth of Peter Singer or the scientifically rigorous work of Jane Goodall, "The Wauchula Woods Accord" is a welcome, highly readable contribution to the rapidly growing body of writing that challenges our long-entrenched exploitation of animals. To this end, Siebert formulates his Wauchula Woods Accord: "The degree to which we humans will finally stop abusing other creatures and, for that matter, one another, will ultimately be measured by the degree to which we come to understand how integral a part of us all other creatures actually are." Kathryn Shevelow, whose most recent book is "For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement," teaches at the University of California, San Diego. Reviewed by Kathryn Shevelow, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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Synopsis:
An award-winning journalist's all-night vigil with a retired chimp performer named Roger blossoms into a whole new regard for these fellow creatures--as well as for himself.
Synopsis:
An award-winning journalist’s all-night vigil with a retired chimp performer named Roger blossoms into a whole new way to regard our fellow creatures as well as ourselves.
While researching a recent New York Times Magazine cover story about chimpanzees, Charles Siebert visited a retirement home for former ape movie stars and circus entertainers in Wauchula, Florida known as the Center for Great Apes. There Siebert encountered Roger, a twenty-eight-year-old former Ringling Brothers star who seemed convinced he knew the author from some other time and place. Haunted by Roger’s response, Siebert takes up residence at the Center for Great Apes and, in the course of one late-night visit to a sleepless Roger’s quarters, gets to the bottom of this mysterious connection between himself and his simian counterpart.
The result is The Wauchula Woods Accord, a strikingly written, wide-ranging physical and metaphysical foray into the increasingly fraught frontier between humans and other animals; a journey that encompasses many of the author’s encounters with chimpanzees and other animals, as well as the latest scientific discoveries that underscore our intimate biological bonds not only with our nearest kin, but with far more remote-seeming life-forms. By journey’s end, the reader arrives at a deeper understanding both of Roger and of our numerous other animal selves, a recognition—an accord— that carries a new sense of responsibility for how we view and treat all animals, including ourselves.
Charles Siebert is the author of two memoirs and a novel. A poet, journalist, essayist, and contributing writer for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, his work has appeared in a broad array of publications, including The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, Outside, Esquire, and Men’s Journal.
The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals
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Charles Siebert
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224 pages
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"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
An award-winning journalist's all-night vigil with a retired chimp performer named Roger blossoms into a whole new regard for these fellow creatures--as well as for himself.
"Synopsis"
by Netread,
An award-winning journalist’s all-night vigil with a retired chimp performer named Roger blossoms into a whole new way to regard our fellow creatures as well as ourselves.
While researching a recent New York Times Magazine cover story about chimpanzees, Charles Siebert visited a retirement home for former ape movie stars and circus entertainers in Wauchula, Florida known as the Center for Great Apes. There Siebert encountered Roger, a twenty-eight-year-old former Ringling Brothers star who seemed convinced he knew the author from some other time and place. Haunted by Roger’s response, Siebert takes up residence at the Center for Great Apes and, in the course of one late-night visit to a sleepless Roger’s quarters, gets to the bottom of this mysterious connection between himself and his simian counterpart.
The result is The Wauchula Woods Accord, a strikingly written, wide-ranging physical and metaphysical foray into the increasingly fraught frontier between humans and other animals; a journey that encompasses many of the author’s encounters with chimpanzees and other animals, as well as the latest scientific discoveries that underscore our intimate biological bonds not only with our nearest kin, but with far more remote-seeming life-forms. By journey’s end, the reader arrives at a deeper understanding both of Roger and of our numerous other animal selves, a recognition—an accord— that carries a new sense of responsibility for how we view and treat all animals, including ourselves.
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