MORE MONKEY BUSINESS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1995:

ACE Hardware monkeys
A spider monkey, a crab-eating macaque,
and three capuchins who for many years were kept in
solitary confinement as mascots of the five Buikema’s
Ace Hardware stores in Chicago’s western suburbs
were delivered to Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation
on September 2 as result of a year-long campaign led
by Deb Leahy and Joe Taksel of Illinois Animal
Action, with final negotiations handled by Bill
Dollinger of Friends of Animals. The effort gained
momentum after one monkey developed an ear infection
and eventually tore part of the ear off, leading to
USDA citations of the franchise owner for failing to
provide adequate veterinary care. A mix-up between
IAA and FoA resulted in IAA arranging to send the
monkeys to WRR while FoA, unaware of that deal,
asked Wally Swett of Primarily Primates to take them.

Primarily Primates suit
A long-disputed trust fund set up to help provide
for monkeys brought to Primarily Primates from a
New Hampshire facility by the same name run by
Muriel Mackey may remain frozen for at least another
year, as Boston attorney Stephen Wise moved in
August to increase his claim against Primarily
Primates for unpaid legal fees to $127,020, including
interest and collection costs on the $89,271 he previously
claimed to be owed. Primarily Primates holds
that the claim includes $20,000 in overbilling, some
of it for time Wise spent leading a 1993 hostile
takeover attempt. The trust fund was frozen from
1981 until 1993 as Mackey fought the merger of her
facility into the Texas facility––which was set up,
according to founder Wally Swett, with the intention
of giving Mackey and her monkeys a home for the rest
of their lives. Wise represented the Texas facility in
that case, and also defended it when disgruntled exstaff
and ex-volunteers in 1992 accused Swett of mistreating
them and neglecting the animals in his care.
However, after Swett objected to the size of Wise’s
bill in those cases and several others he handled for
Primarily Primates, Wise took the complaints of the
ex-staff and ex-volunteers to the Texas attorney general.
Some adjustment of the Primarily Primates corporate
structure eventually satisfied the Texas attorney
general’s office. “The judge is now considering
Wise’s motion for summary judgement,” Swett said.
“If the judge rules against us, we’ll appeal. We’re
hoping for a jury trial that will get this case and what’s
behind it out into the open.”
NASA monkey lab
A panel of outside veterinarians headed by
Colorado State University pathology professor Martin
Fettman on August 14 dismissed seven of 10 allegations
of improper treatment of monkeys leveled by
PETA against the NASA/Ames Research Center in
Mountain View, California, but recommended suspension
of experiments on weightlessness conducted at
the center by Dr. David Tomko. The panel said
Tomko “demonstrated little sense of responsibility” for
overseeing the care of monkeys, citing two monkeys
who died of thirst last October because technicians
didn’t realize their water lines were clogged, and two
more monkeys whose scheduled euthanasia was
delayed for seven months. PETA became involved
after former Ames chief veterinarian Sharon Vanderlip
resigned in March, charging the Ames administration
with “arrogance and blatant disregard” for animal welfare.
Convened in April, the panel initially recommended
a 10-week suspension of all animal experiments
at Ames while various changes were made.