Time to free Little Joe

By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, 10/1/2003

For evidence that zoos exist more to entertain us than to educate us, look no farther than the reaction to the escape of Little Joe, the Franklin Park gorilla. A gorilla breaks out of captivity, and we are surprised that he acts like a -- how to put this? -- a gorilla.

How much have we learned at the zoo if we so underestimate the intelligence of man's closest living relatives and so overstate their capacity for criminal intent? Is the recaptured gorilla being held in lockdown to protect us or to punish him? Was the talk of capital punishment in the Tropical Forest exhibit more or less serious than it is on Beacon Hill?

Those questions are not meant to minimize the fear and pain of Courtney Roberson, 18, or Nia Scott, 2, who were hurt by the panicked primate during his escape.

I am sure they were even more terrified than Little Joe was. But the responsible party is not the ape; it's the humans who caged him.

So, it turned out that a cage couldn't hold a bored, testosterone-driven adolescent, intent on freedom. Instead of asking why one should, we are asking how to build one that will. Seems like the wrong question.

In his book, "Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals," Steven Wise argues persuasively that primates should have the status of personhood under the law. If it initially sounds silly, his is no sentimental, anthropomorphic argument. The law professor contends that because the great apes have much in common with human animals -- a conscious mind, a capacity to learn -- they ought to be protected from medical experimentation and enslavement. Because their intelligence is no more developed than that of a young child, however, they ought not to have adult-sized legal obligations. Little Joe, in other words, should not be charged with assault and battery.

This episode exposes some of our underlying myths about both gorillas and zoos. Apes are wild animals, but pose no danger unless they feel threatened. Zoos are less about education and conservation than they are about entertainment and exploitation. We stroll through exhibits behind small children or large strollers, stopping to read all too brief descriptions of an animal's natural habitat and eating habits. Then it's on to our own, the concession stand and its hot dogs and the stale pretzels.

How much do we really learn about the animals we gawk at through the bars or the protective glass? Even in the best zoos, how humane can the treatment be for animals kept in captivity under conditions that barely mimic their native habitat?

Little Joe is a lowland gorilla, a species that has been brought to the edge of extinction by poaching and the loss of forest in its native central Africa. National Geographic reported earlier this year that there has been a dramatic die-off of lowland gorillas and chimpanzees in central Africa because of the spread of the Ebola virus. A year ago, a report from the Great Apes Project of the United Nations' Environment Program warned that only 10 percent of the lowland gorilla's existing habitat will remain by 2030 if the rate of deforestation continues.

Little Joe was born more than 10 years ago at the Bronx Zoo. Like lots of zoo animals, his best years are behind him. Young and cute sells better at the zoo than big and aggressive. To avoid interbreeding with his 37 family members or their offspring in US zoos, Little Joe will probably not be allowed to mate and might be isolated from females. This is how we preserve an endangered species?

Want to help the gorillas and protect the residents of Seaver Street from roving teenage apes? Skip the zoo and send the $9 admission fee to the Jane Goodall Institute, the Born Free Foundation, the African Wildlife Foundation, or the International Primate Protection League, which fund sanctuaries for these animals.

Don't lock up Little Joe. Set him free.

Eileen McNamara can be reached at mcnamara@globe.com.