:::NOTE – I found this unpublished blog post floating around the back alleys of SPSland, probably from back in May. I still remember this story so vividly, so I thought I would at long last share it with you…Enjoy! [love, evan]:::

Amongst the Ween, Chris Issak, Erykah Badu, and other artists we listen to on the road we’ve started listening to podcasts such as Radiolab. Particularly fascinating was one on Lucy Temerlin. A chimpanzee taken in by humans as a research project, though treated as a daughter. She would make tea for guests, eat and groom like a human.

People have tried to keep chimps as hollywood entertainers, pets or family members. But, as they mature they become unruly. Not only that, their strength is near ten times that of a human. Lucy’s owners couldn’t part with her, so as she destroyed their home they built a cage inside it. Although Lucy started to resent her owners, they found an assistant who would form a friendship, Janis Carter.

Eventually her surrogate parents took her to Africa with, Janis, who eventually, miraculously, got her to accept her life as a chimp. She had planned on staying there two weeks, but never left, even after Lucy was able to sustain herself (which took years of them living on an unpopulated island). Janis did visit Lucy once after she was a rehabilitated chimp, and this is an image of their embrace.

The story has a crushing end, reminding us we should just let chimps be chimps. Listen to the Lucy story on Radiolab. And the tragic epilogue.