I was deeply saddened by the recent news of the death of Washoe, a chimpanzee who lived at the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, WA for many years. Her passing is cause to reflect and inspiration for an op-ed (Here with the header "Legacy for Washoe") that I wrote about Washoe last week.
Some people writing about her death have claimed that she changed what it meant to be human – that she changed our society. That, I suppose, is true – but there is more to that lesson. Washoe also helped us see what it means to be chimpanzee. When she spoke her mind, signing about her wants and needs, playing jokes or tricks, showing empathy, she embodied a message of compassion – one that we have not fully heard.
Her life "spoke" of chimpanzee-hood, humanity and compassion. Not in the figurative way that Kafka envisioned when he wrote of Red Peter. But literally - when she joked, fibbed, comiserated, threw tantrums - she challenged us all to think differently (bigger?) about the minds of nonhuman animals. She will be missed.
In light of the lessons taught by Washoe, her fellow signing apes, and all that we know about chimpanzees, we must now realize that how we currently keep and treat chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories is replete with ethical problems. It's time for the United States to join nations all over the world, from Austria to Liberia and New Zealand, that have banned experiments on chimpanzees. It is the right and compassionate thing to do. I'm sure that Washoe would have signed that she agreed.
For more information, see the tribute site, CHCI, Friends of Washoe.
