Sister Species by Lisa A. Kemmerer

Author:Lisa A. Kemmerer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2012-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

7

compassion without borders

hope ferdowsian

during the summer of 2009, I met a solemn, beautiful, middle-aged mother with deep brown eyes in Washington State. When she was only an infant, she was taken from her own mother in Africa and forced into a life of confinement and repeated harm. As she became older, she was repeatedly impregnated, and after she gave birth to each of her babies, they were taken from her. They were similarly forced into lives of confinement. This understandably somber individual was also kept in solitary confinement in a cement basement for years.

This mother’s name is Negra. She is a chimpanzee. Negra was born one year before me, to a species with far less freedom. When she was a child, she was forced into a life of exhibition and experimentation. In addition to breeding, Negra was used repeatedly in hepatitis vaccine experiments. She was held in isolation for at least a couple of years merely due to a clerical error. It is hard for me to believe that she was any less traumatized by these experiences than I would have been.

Thankfully, today Negra lives at a sanctuary in Washington State. In 2009, I had the privilege of meeting Negra and the other chimpanzees with whom she lives, as well as the steadfast humans who try to bring joy and love to the chimpanzees living at the sanctuary. When I heard that Negra loves to watch people dance, I danced for her. I figure that turnabout is fair play, and it was only right that I be on exhibition for her. After seeing the look on Negra’s face, I would have danced for her forever. It was another chimpanzee who asked for an encore—admittedly, one of my prouder moments.

Negra is currently one of the many chimpanzees who are part of a purely observational study that I am conducting with my primatologist colleague, Dr. Debra Durham (as well as with the participation and support of many people who work in sanctuaries and conservation around the world). I am a physician specializing in internal medicine, preventive medicine, and public health. But, I’ve taken a bit of a different path within the field of medicine: I provide patient care for humans, and I also work for human rights and the protection of nonhuman animals.

In the field of human rights, I evaluate and treat human torture survivors. My introduction to the world of torture and human rights came when I was nine years old, when I read A Cry from the Heart: The Bahá’Is of Iran, by William Sears. The most vivid story I can recall was about a young boy who was burned to death with his father after he failed to renounce his religion. At the time, I could not understand the complex factors that led to his death, although I understood that these acts were intrinsically wrong. After a few years passed, I learned more about the sociopolitical milieu when my dad’s family migrated to the United States to escape the religious intolerance described in Mr.

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