When chimpanzee rescuer Jenny Desmond heard that exotic pet traffickers were attempting to sell a baby in Monrovia (the capital of Liberia), she swung into action, working with local wildlife authorities to both rescue the chimp and capture the perpetrator. Desmond, who runs Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection (LCRP) with her husband Jim, set up a sting operation to lure the trafficker onto her property; document him asking for money; and have him arrested by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the government agency that enforces Liberia’s wildlife laws. Desmond captured the sting on camera:

The trafficker, who appeared to be in his 20s, told Ms. Desmond and the FDA official that he purchased the chimp from hunters. In Liberia, as in other African countries with a wild chimpanzee population, poachers kill adult chimps for bushmeat and sell their babies as exotic pets.

Jenny Desmond of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection comforts Ella, a baby chimp who is clinging on to the exotic pet trafficker who was attempting to sell her.

Two of the approximately 20 chimps rescued by Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection after being held captive

After being confiscated by wildlife authorities, Ella, a victim of the exotic pet trade whose mother was killed by poachers, finds peace and happiness at Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection (LCRP)

Please support the life-saving rescue and conservation work being conducted by Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection.

According to an explosive new documentary film, Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story,  kangaroo meat industry executives, ranchers, landowners and the government officials who support them have conspired to re-brand Australia’s icon as a “pest” and eradicate them in the dark of night for profit.

Meat companies want to kill kangaroos in order to sell their body parts, and ranchers and landowners want them killed in order to keep them off their land. With the help of government officials, the perpetrators disguise the largely unknown slaughter as a necessary cull to curb population growth.

The daily hunt, which takes place during the dark of night, is so brutal that it will leave even the most cynical viewers wondering how this could possibly be happening in modern day times.

Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story

While the filmmakers, Kate McIntyre Clere and Mick McIntyre, introduce us to many villains who are complicit in the atrocities, they also profile the brave activists who  jeopardize their freedom and safety in order to expose and stop the wholesale massacre of Australia’s most iconic animal.

World Premiere of Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story in NYC. From left to right: Kate McIntyre Clere; Hon. Mark Pearson, Suzy Welch, Dr. Dror Ben Ami, Mick McIntyre

Documentary films succeed with support from the grassroots. Please encourage your friends to see the Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story and share the filmmakers’ posts from  their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages using the hashtag #KangarooTheMovie. 

After failing, during a face-to-face confrontation, to convince billionaire Maurice Greenberg to cancel his plan to lease pandas from China and put them on display in NYC, over thirty animal rights activists staged a protest in front of his Manhattan home.

Reaction from his neighbors was mixed, with some taking the handout to learn more and others angrily scolding the protesters. One man who emerged from his building belittled the activists by saying that they have a “preschool education.”  The interaction was caught on video.  Also caught on video was one of Mr. Greenberg’s doormen holding up a poster that said, “Eat Fried Panda.” An NYPD detective at the scene apologized to the protesters on behalf of the doorman who taunted then.

As animal rights activists confronted Hank & Corinne Greenberg in NYC over their plans to rent pandas from China and display them in NYC.

Just hours before the protest, Mr Greenberg called protest organizer Donny Moss to discuss the panda project and the protest. According to Moss, “Mr. Greenberg was polite and attentive, but he sent a clear message that children deserve the opportunity to see live pandas more than pandas deserve to live freely in their natural habitats.  He also argued that pandas serve as a diplomatic tool to enhance relations between China and the United States.”

Animal rights activists stage a moving picket in front of the home of Hank Greenberg, one of two billionaires backing U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s plan to import pandas and display them in Manhattan.

The anti-captivity protesters, who argue that animals exist for their own purposes and are not here to entertain us, vow to continue protesting Mr. Greenberg and his two partners in the panda project, fellow billionaire John Catsimatidis and U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, until they call off their plans to lease and exhibit pandas.

After letters, petitions and protests failed to convince Maurice Greenberg to cancel his plan to import pandas, animal rights activists staged a protest in front of his Manhattan home.

In February 2017,  Maurice Greenberg, John Catsimatidis, and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney held a fundraiser called the “Black & White Panda Ball” at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to raise money for the panda project, which is estimated to cost $50 million.  According to media reports, the gala raised approximately $500,000.

U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney created a charity, The Pandas are Coming to NYC, to raise $50 million for the project.

Please sign the Care2 petition asking U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to call off her plan to import pandas into NYC for display.

Follow No Panda Prison NYC on Facebook.

Animal rights activists argue that pandas exist for their own purposes and are not here to entertain us or serve as political tools to improve relations between the U.S. and China.

When Jenny and Jim Desmond moved to Liberia in 2015 to oversee the care of 66 chimpanzees who had been abandoned by the New York Blood Center, forestry authorities brought them 19 young chimpanzees in need of parents and a home. Unlike the blood center chimps, who were fully grown and living somewhat independently, the majority of these chimps were newly orphaned by poachers who killed their mothers for bushmeat. Like human babies, these chimpanzees need around-the-clock care.

In order to provide adequate care for the orphans, the Desmonds hired a team of caregivers from the local village to serve as their surrogate mothers. But chimpanzee babies grow up quickly, and, by two or three years old, they have to be transitioned into a group of other chimps. In addition, they need far more space — space that they don’t have in the small home they inhabit in a densely populated village two hours outside of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city.

LCRP rescued these captive chimps whose families were killed for bushmeat.

Now, the Desmonds are tasked with the responsibility of moving all 19 chimps, including two adults, and their human caregivers into a forested area where they will build a sanctuary from the ground up. The sanctuary will have enclosed areas in the forest so that the chimps can live in a semi-wild environment by day; night time housing for the younger chimps; a clinic; a commissary for food preparation; isolation areas for new arrivals to prevent the spread of illnesses; housing for caregivers and volunteers; public areas for education and conservation programs; and administrative offices.

Enrichment activities at Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection (photo: Jenny Desmond)

They’ve already created an entity, Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection (LCRP), and leased a large tract of forested land on the Farmington River, just a few miles away from the islands where the blood center chimps are living. Now they need to raise funds to build.

LCRP’s Jim Desmond, one of two veterinarians in Liberia, performs minor surgery in a makeshift operating room (photo: Jenny Desmond)

The sanctuary has a second and equally important mission – to protect wild chimpanzees in their natural habitat.  If government authorities have a place to bring chimpanzees who they confiscate from poachers, then poachers will have less of an incentive to capture baby chimps in order to sell them as pets.  In the absence of a sanctuary, the authorities turn a blind eye to the trade in baby chimps because they have no place to bring them. Sanctuaries therefore play a critical role in the conservation of the species.

Please support the life-saving rescue and conservation work being conducted by Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection.

John Catsimatidis, one of the two billionaires helping U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney raise $50 million to rent a pair of pandas from China and put them on display in NYC, defended his plan during a dramatic confrontation with animal rights activists:

During the confrontation, Mr. Catsimatidis defended the importation of pandas on the grounds that New Yorkers want them: “We’ve taken polls. Ninety percent of New Yorkers say, ‘We love pandas, and we want them in New York.'”

The day after the clash, Mr. Catsimatidis invited protest organizer Donny Moss onto his radio show to debate the issue:

“I think that Mr. Catsimatidis genuinely cares about animals,” said protest organizer Donny Moss. “If he took the time to learn why holding wild animals captive for our entertainment is outdated and inhumane, then he might change his mind about renting pandas from China, and he might understand why the animal advocacy community in NYC must continue protesting his plan.”

Animal rights activists in NYC are protesting a plan to rent pandas from China and put them on display in NYC.

In February 2017,  Mr. Catsimatidis, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and billionaire Maurice (Hank) Greenberg held a fundraiser called the “Black & White Panda Ball” at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to raise money for the project, which is estimated to cost $50 million.  The gala raised approximately $500,000. Their charity, The Pandas are Coming to NYC, continues to raise money.

Please sign the Care2 petition asking U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to call off her plan to import pandas into NYC for display.

Follow No Panda Prison NYC on Facebook.