Chimpanzee cleaning a tree house

I won’t speak for rev, but my problem with it is that Pan-kun is clearly a juvenile, and does not appear to be getting any socialization with other chimps. Once he reaches puberty, he’s going to be far too big and strong to be kept safely around humans (the recent case in Connecticut in which a woman had her hands, eyes, nose and much of her face ripped off in an attack involved a chimp that was considered ‘tame’ and had spent years with people), yet he doesn’t show any understanding of the chimp-like behaviors that would allow him to live successfully in an all-chimp environment (one of the Shimura Zoo segments even highlighted Pan-kun’s social ineptitude with other chimps for humor value). Chimps are highly social animals, and condemning one to an adult life of isolation in this way seems very cruel and irresponsible to me.

Shimura may well sincerely care about Pan-kun’s well-being, but I doubt the network will have much interest in him once he’s no longer cute and cuddly, nor will he likely be as much of a draw at the zoo where he lives. What will happen to him then?

Zoos have a responsibility (usually enforced by the necessity of cooperating with other zoos around the world to get breeding partners or new exhibits) to provide an environment for their animals that simulates their natural surroundings as closely as possible. A responsible, well-run zoo would not be placing their animals in unnatural situations, such as by raising them as humans or mixing them with unfamiliar species (like the “let’s put a bear cub in the lion pen and watch him freak” segment that was linked to earlier) simply for entertainment and TV ratings.