“It’s a battle between apes and pigs,” said one bystander.
Photo by Chaveli Diaz
The Trump administration has recently cut $8 billion from climate-related projects in 16 states and instructed employees of the Department of Energy to avoid using words such as “climate change,” “green,” and “sustainable.” This comes within a week of the passing of celebrated environmentalist and chimpanzee scholar, Jane Goodall.
As a response to the current state of the Anthropocene, two newly acquired San Diego Zoo chimpanzees, Caesar and Cornelius, have launched a protest on behalf of the “declining forest population in the Amazon rainforest,” “the homeless animals whose habitats have been mutilated out of greed,” and “the Earth, which has been dying from unnatural causes at an accelerating rate.”
“Dr. Goodall rarely talked about why we should preserve nature because she thought the answer was obvious,” Caesar said. “But what she did always talk about was how beautiful the planet is.” The two primates implore chimps worldwide to continue Goodall’s activism.
In an exclusive interview with the two primates, conducted through American Sign Language, Caesar revealed that their campaign is as much chimp-centric as it is geared toward all other organisms. They “hoped all subjects of the animal kingdom would join.” According to Cornelius, “No matter how much or how little DNA we share, we share the same home, which connects us worldwide.”
Furthermore, when calling humans to action, Caesar said, “Dr. Goodall told us back in Gombe, Nigeria that chimps and humans share a genetic kinship. You use tools, we use tools. You kiss and embrace, we do too. You drink before you’re of age, we do it all day! Of course, humans have Tesla and the Metaverse and are therefore more ‘intelligent.’ But herein lies the problem: why and how could those who are more ‘intelligent’ be the ones destroying our planet?”
Cornelius detailed their demands. He explained how they signed a peace treaty with the San Diego Zoo, claiming that their movement was not a strike, but a protest against the current administration. Following negotiations, the zoo has worked with local cinemas to conduct special screenings of the chimps’ favorite movie, “The Planet of the Apes.” All animals in the zoo will gain access to outdoor viewing experiences in the comfort of their own enclosures. Caesar adds that, with this mobilization underway, he hopes that all of the animals will soon rally together in the streets, because “Animals together strong.”
While the protest is still in its early stages, animals across California, both from zoos and the wild, are taking to the streets in participation. Caesar predicts that humans will start joining soon. “Do you want to know what Dr. Goodall’s favorite animal was?” Caesar added. “Dogs. Yes, dogs. It’s not chimps — because we are too similar to humans. But she still tells us to keep hope. To stop fighting. To start protecting.”
