|  Jeannie
1975-2007
Dear All
It is with great sadness that we write to inform
you of the death of another very dear member of the Fauna
chimpanzee family. Jeannie passed away on the evening of New
Year's Day. She had been ill for several weeks, suspected
of having a heart condition. In the end, she succumbed to
a diseased heart.
Jeannie arrived at Fauna a very broken and fragile
being. It took several years of tender loving care to help
mend her spirit but her broken body never healed. Jeannie
was only 31 years of age and she will be truly missed by all
who loved her dearly and admired her courage.
Rest in peace Jeannie
Gloria and all at Fauna
Jean was most likely born in the lab,
stolen from her mother and raised by humans who cared about
her only as a research subject. Her owners, Merck, Sharp &
Dohme, donated Jean to the Buckshire Corporation in 1981 when
she was 6 years old. In 1988 she arrived at New York University's
research laboratories (LEMSIP). During
her time at LEMSIP Jean suffered nothing but indignities.
Continually given vaginal washes and cervical biopsies, Ch-562
was just as often treated for self-inflicted wounds in the
early years.
Jean has spent her whole life serving humans,
and by the time she was 20, in 1993, she was chosen to be
inoculated with HIV. Following a study in 1995, Jean had a
nervous breakdown, but fortunately did not die. For the next
2 years Jean was heavily medicated but the medication still
did not prevent her from having aggressive seizures during
which she screamed continually, ripping her fingernails off
and thrashing out at anyone who came near her.
Because of her inability to cope with the rigors
of research life, she was chosen for retirement. Jean was
lucky, she would get to live in a sanctuary instead of having
to be relocated once again to one of the worst labs in America,
The Coulston Foundation, where many of Jean's friends from
her years in LEMSIP would end up. Today Jeannie doesn't scream
all the time, or attack herself when she cannot cope with
what's going on around her. Her episodes and outbursts have
reduced substantially, however, to this day she suffers from
the so-called "phantom hand and foot" where she
will begin to attack her own hand or foot as if it were not
her own.
Jean is not living with all the other chimpanzees
yet, and maybe never will, because of her inability to cope,
but her improvement is absolutely encouraging. She is calmer,
certainly more content and even playful and social. Her hearing
has been affected as well as her motor skills, but she manages
and her day-to-day improvements are a testament to retirement.
We cannot change her past, but we certainly can try to give
her a life worth living.
Adopt Jean!
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