Feature chimp: Tom

by Gloria Grow
September 2001 newsletter

Tom is the kind of fellow who leaves you wondering who you have just met. He is very unique and different in his looks. Of course he looks like a chimpanzee but something very unusual happens to his appearance when you see how Tom behaves, especially when he is with his human friend, Pat. These two are soul mates, connected spiritually somehow.

From the moment I met Tom in the laboratory I could tell he was different. I also knew that Pat was going to fall in love with this special fellow, and my God, was I right. And I saw that love being given right back by Tom, too. Those two are perfect for each other because Pat is just the kind of friend Tom needs to help him on his long journey to recovery.

Tom has a gentle and noticeably different face. His head is rather large, sprinkled with freckles around his nose and chin. His hair is grey and his beard, which circles his huge face, is also grey. He could remind you of a dear old uncle; in fact, he reminds me of Grandpa on the Munsters but his face is terrific, making him instantly likable.

Tom also has the biggest hands and fingers, with callouses on the back and covered in scars. His arms are also huge, thick and muscular, rock hard and not as a result from swinging in the trees but from his daily outbursts of anxiety, from wanting to get out or from frustration with his predicament. Chimpanzees in cages can spend long periods rocking, banging, or rattling their bars. It becomes a daily ritual. It's so very sad to see Tom's frustration and to sometimes hear the resignation in his voice.

Although not tall, Tom has an incredibly dense body. His physical strength is unbelievable, he is by far the strongest of the chimpanzees living at Fauna. Still he is also the most gentle, loving and loyal fellow.

It was absolutely disgusting to me to see a chimpanzee of Tom's size living in a cage where he could not possibly stretch out his arms or climb higher than 2 feet up to his ridiculous tire, hung by chains right in the middle of his cage. This was his home, his playground, and his kitchen. The tire was his bed, his pathetic and horrific life…a 5'x5'x7' cage. To think that Tom had lived like this for over 25 years, (he is in his 30s now but no one knows exactly how old he is) just breaks your heart. Seeing the way animals in laboratories are forced to live, and the needless suffering endured by the victims - the indignities, the loss of identity - makes me very angry.

To begin to imagine the horrors inflicted on our wonderful cousins is unbearable. Tom knows what has been done to him although he doesn't understand why. How could he?

Could we begin to rationalize this kind of life: living in isolation; forced to do things; enduring torture, being cut up, poked at, shot at; no windows to look through; eating the same boring food everyday of your life; never knowing from one day to the next what was in store for you; and never knowing who to trust? And just when you finally do believe in someone, they trick you, too. It is all too much…the betrayal, the anxiety, the fear, the pain and loneliness, the loss of family, friends, home and your culture.

Probably the saddest of all Tom's suffering and sacrifices, is that the individuals in the companies that leased Tom's body, and created this pathetic life for him, do not care about him nor his friends nor the thousands of others just like him who suffer every day on our behalf.

These people in these companies see Tom as CH-411 - someone who could provide body parts or blood. Then worst of all, they see someone to infect, and they did infect Tom, with the HIV virus. Now he is labeled "hot," "infected," "dirty," and not good for much else, so he would be replaced by new "clean" and "uninfected" babies, born to mothers behind bars, raised by humans to build a bond and a trust with humans, only to be betrayed in the worst way, by their friends. It doesn't get much worse than that, yet these people feel they owe Tom nothing.

These people will never know this amazing individual behind the bars, nor will they ever thank him for all he has given. He at least deserves some recognition, the recognition all of you have given all of the residents at Fauna, just by caring, and by reading this.

Tom was luckier in the end than most. He was not supposed to come to live in Canada. Yoko had been in the group but wasn't working out and so he was taken out and replaced by Tom, thank God. Fortunately, I couldn't even imagine leaving the Yokie Pokie behind, and so both Tom and Yoko are now here at Fauna. Tom still lives alone most of the time, and will until the extension is complete. Then, perhaps he can have a shot at a better life in captivity. Let's all pray for Tom to find a way to fit into the group, and hope that his days will be happier.