Tommy the chimpanzee dies alone in his prison cell
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
~ Psalm 22:1-2, NKJV ~
These must have been the final thoughts of Tommy the Chimpanzee, who was found dead, curled up in his sleeping spot, alone in his prison cell in February 2022 according to a USDA official (Source: the NonHuman Rights Project (NhRP).
I have followed the story of Tommy for many years. I am deeply saddened by the news of Tommy’s death and outraged at the blatant inhumane treatment he underwent throughout his life. One would think it would be illegal—but it isn’t—because animals are considered mere human property. They have no legal rights to be treated humanely—with love, kindness and mercy. Though many fought hard to free Tommy, he died in a cage. For the sake of all the animals still imprisoned and crying out for help, Tommy’s story must be told.
Tommy’s Story
According to the NhRP website, Tommy was “[b]elieved to have been born in the early 1980s … [and] raised from infancy by Dave Sabo, former proprietor of “Sabo’s Chimps.” Tommy appeared as “Goliath” in the 1987 film Project X, according to Sabo. Animal activist and TV icon Bob Barker and others alleged that trainers beat the chimpanzees used in the film with blackjacks and clubs. After Sabo died in 2008, “ownership” of at least some of the chimpanzees passed to the Laverys.” It is here that Steven Wise, lawyer and legal scholar, first met Tommy in 2013. Tommy was living alone in a cage in a shed on a used trailer lot in Gloversville, New York. One wall of his cement cell was painted to look like a jungle with a TV set up outside the enclosure. The NhRP website describes Tommy’s experience:
“The irony was horrific: this chimpanzee had spent much of his life performing for humans in the entertainment industry, including on a film set where chimpanzees were alleged to have been beaten into submission with blackjacks, clubs, and cattle prods. Now, the people who “owned” him were providing him with human entertainment as if this could ever make up for the loss of his freedom and the company of other chimpanzees. Later, Tommy’s owner even claimed in a media interview that Tommy liked being alone.”
Did Tommy like living alone as Mr. Lavery suggests? Nothing could be further from the truth! Countless studies by Jane Goodall and many other sources tell us how chimpanzees live in complex family units in the wild and are highly social, much like humans. It is in their genes, as chimpanzees and humans share 98.8% the same DNA. We also can derive from our own experience, if we have ever been around animals or share our homes with them, that animals feel emotion in much the same way humans do. They suffer just as we would if we were in their circumstances.
Continue reading this article on Kathy’s website, shepherdingcreation.com…..
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