Chimpanzees and Humans Share Parallel Emotions
10 September 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- A study recently published in a popular journal connected the negative emotional responses chimpanzees feel, with those typically found in human animals. The core of the study was based on incidents of trauma and confinement.
The American Psychological Association released Developmental Context Effects on Bicultural Post-Trauma Self Repair in Chimpanzees this week, which was published in the September issue, Vol. 45 (5). The study concluded that the similarities between primates and humans could not be denied.
Fauna sanctuary director Gloria Grow, along with psychologists G.A. Bradshaw, Ph.D., Theodora Capaldo, Ed.D. and Lorin Lindner, Ph.D., reviewed cases involving three chimpanzees - Regis, Tom and Billy Jo. These primates were used in research laboratories prior to finding themselves in the sanctuary.
Regis' mother gave birth to him in a laboratory. By the time this young chimp was barely two years-old, he had chewed off one of his fingernails. Although Regis is now safe in the Fauna sanctuary, he is deathly afraid of being left alone and now suffers severe anxiety and panic attacks to the point of extreme hyperventilation.
Tom witnessed his entire family slaughtered in Africa, before he, himself, was taken away to be sold to a laboratory. This primate spent decades confined in three different laboratories and underwent 369 dart gun shots laced with anesthesia. Tom suffered through long and painful experiments and procedures. Now, every morning, he gags uncontrollably, gasping for air as a result of his previous experiences.
"A federal bill (H.R. 1326) to end the use of chimpanzees in research has been introduced. Studies like ours expose the reality of what it is like for approximately 1,000 chimpanzees languishing in U.S. labs. Chimpanzee research must stop if we are to end the suffering caused by decisions - both scientifically flawed and ethically unjustifiable - to use them as living test tubes," said Says Dr. Capaldo, president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS).
Billy Jo's story has a different beginning. He was lovingly raised much like a human child until he became too large to handle. When he entered his teen years, he was relinquished to a laboratory where he then spent the next 14 years in a 5'X5'X7' cage. At age 29, he was finally rescued and brought to the sanctuary, after enduring countless procedures while in the "care" of lab techs. Billy Jo finally died eight years later at the age of 38.
Ending all experiments on primates is imperative. Chimpanzees suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and exhibit the same symptoms of depression and anxiety human animals do under tremendous stress.
Post-Trauma Self Repair in Chimpanzees follows Building an Inner Sanctuary: Complex PTSD in Chimpanzees, which was published in the April 2008 issue of the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. In last year's issue, researchers were able to connect conclusively that human psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses crossed species lines.
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