But there's also lots of examples of chimps who on some level have been suffering because they just can't figure it out." "They've had the opportunity to learn to be chimps. "Some of these chimps haven't been pets or performers for a long time," says Ross. These long-term effects were evident years, even decades, after these chimpanzees' lives as pets or performers were over. "They don't see other chimpanzees they aren't exposed to chimpanzee culture they're in a completely human world," says Ross. Their environments are often devoid of any normal chimpanzee stimuli or experiences. They are usually bred specifically for these intentions, and often take away from their mothers very early, even within the first 24 hours of their lives. "Chimpanzees raised to be pets or performers have very atypical lives," says Ross. So Ross and his colleague Hani Freeman studied 60 chimpanzees living at accredited zoos or sanctuaries, 36 of which were former pets or performers.
![chimpanzee pet chimpanzee pet](https://goldenexoticpets.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ca.jpg)
There's also a lot of opposition to keeping primates as pets, but not much of it is based on science. The increasing number of calls made him realize that there were a lot of privately owned chimpanzees in the United States. Ross is the director of the Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at Lincoln Park Zoo and he administers the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan.
![chimpanzee pet chimpanzee pet](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/02/17/chimpanzee.attack/art.travis.child.news12.jpg)
About ten years ago, Stephen Ross began getting more and more calls from chimpanzee owners who wanted to get rid of their pets.