Ah! So now you are looking for ape friend that seemed to be a pretty smart buddy in that latest Hollywood flicks you saw recently. You must be wondering if you could own one and keep yourself occupied with your new found friend. Well, take it slow buddy, because it isn’t as easy as it looks like on the screen. No I am not saying it would turn out to be another ‘The-Rise-of-The-Planet-Of-The-Apes’, but you would surely have a tough time handling your monkey friends. Here is why.
Disciplinary Issues
While you may find baby monkeys and Chimpanzees irresistibly cute but as they grow up, the reality would soon strike upon you in the form of disciplinary issues associated with them. Look! They are not same as a dog or cat, which would wag its tail around you and listen to your orders. They are wild and certainly not the ones who would respond when you throw the stick. As kids, the apes learn all the monkey etiquette via social interactions by observing their elders and imitating them. This way of learning is obstructed when they live in human filled environment and tend to behave differently, which can be abnormal. As babies they can be easy to handle but as they grow up they can prove to be an uncontrollable liability that would chatter and roam around in your house defying your sense of peace and safety. It is difficult to teach an ape human behavior and etiquette and it obviously not preferable and expected.
Wild, Real Wild!
They are not domestic beings. Though they are vegetarians but they have got canines that can prove to be dangerous if not fatal. There have been many cases where a poor owner lost a finger or two as his pet lost his temper. By the time they are adults, that is around five years of age, they become quite stronger than humans. In any case if they become aggressive then even the most experienced care taker cannot help but watch the mess come into existence despite all the efforts. Apes, though can be handled to some extent when they are young but as puberty hits, they long for others of their kind and become ecstatic.
Space and Time
Apes, with chimps specially stay with their moms for more than five years. Even while sleeping, the mamma chimps keep in contact with their infants while sleeping. They are raised with affection and care which a human cannot relate to or imitate. Even devoting all the affection and care, owners often overlook the everyday needs of constant cleaning, developing new tricks to keep them occupied, feeding regularly etc. Petting a chimp is not only concerned with keeping a hold on basic needs, ample space and dedicated time devotion are a part of it. No matter how big your bungalow is, or if you have a huge backyard, for a grown up apes, it would never be enough. Apes like to roam around and explore new spaces, that way your whole house can turn into a mess. It is how you imagine a 3 year old powerful kid roaming across your house, pulling down curtains and moving tables and furniture.
Chimps can become irritated if neglected. You may be off your schedule or come late sometime only to find your pet friend really angry upon you, that may take the shape of a havoc. Oh and if you think you can take your pet on a trip with you then forget that, you won’t even find a proper caretaker when you are away all by yourself.
Communicable diseases
Of course we are not much different from them, they being our ancestors. What could be more dangerous than getting infected by a disease they carry, which can b easily transferable living with your pet. Any disease that harms them can affect us too, since we are so similar genetically. So either way, a disease can be bad for both you and your ape friend equally, no matter who is the transmitter.
Time to say goodbye
Finally after going through all the headache and back breaking struggles , you would realize that these big monkeys only belong to the forest, where they can be happy and stay healthy. It can come to you that no matter how much compassion and care you show towards your pet and all the time you devoted for it, all of it turned out to be a treachery. Well, then let it be clear, like you can’t stay in a jungle with a chimp family, climbing trees and eating fruits, similarly an ape cannot be tamed to be a domestic amuse. Though you might have bonded with the ape but you realize have to let go, well deep down you actually knew this day would come.
The Disturbing Truth
Many owners don’t know this but zoo keepers don’t accept apes that have grown under human influence as they don’t mingle up well with others of their kind. They cannot adopt to the character traits that are though small but unique and equally important to stay alive among their own species. Thus as a misfit they are targeted by other apes and suppressed. Same is the reason why they can’t be let out in the wild, the conditions being tougher there, decreasing the survival chances.
One dark truth that follows is that, these chimps are sent to various laboratories for innumerable experiments that are conducted ruthlessly upon these creatures. The are subjected to pain and torture and kept in inhuman conditions. Though the owners are told not to visit their chimps and disturb them in their new and happy homes, they don’t come to know that their beloved friends actually become victims to various horrendous conditions they are kept in. Thus following this many countries and places have banned keeping apes as pets.
