Category: Animal Rights

My memorable meeting with C.J. the Orangutan.

C.J’s life and death was not a happy one.

There have been many animals that I have met during my career which have shaped my attitudes to animal welfare and rights issues and have made a profound impact on me and one of these was a Hollywood star orangutan named C.J.

Our meeting occurred while I was duty manager at the London Heathrow Animal Quarantine Station, (now the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre), and I had to supervise C.J’s overnight stay as a VIP guest. She was transiting back to the USA following a starring role in the movie Any Which Way You Can with Clint Eastwood.

It was my first ever close up and personal encounter with a real live Orang and at one point C.J took a fancy to my beard and sidled over, without prompting from the trainer, and stroked it. C.J stared mournfully into my eyes and gave me a kiss and from that moment I have always been convinced that you can tell an animals’ state of well-being by the look in its eyes.

Orang-utan, animal actor, movies, animal cruelty
There was something very saddening about seeing C.J doing tricks at the command of the trainer and being so submissive.

C.J sitting in the staff lounge with coffee and cigar in hand was neither an edifying or humorous experience.

Although captivated and overwhelmed at our face to face meeting I could tell from its demeanour that this was not a happy animal and I was saddened and disconcerted at the way C.J had obviously been humanised, particularly at one point when the trainer made a cup of coffee and lit up a cigar. Seeing C.J sitting in the staff lounge with coffee and cigar in hand was not an edifying or humorous experience nor was the submissive reactions to the trainers’ commands.

The encounter with C.J gave me the firm belief that it was not acceptable to train animals for our entertainment and there was something very wrong with forcibly humanising animals in this way, particularly apes, which after all are more like us than most other creatures and do not deserve to be belittled in this way.

Death of C.J.

Information about the life and death of C.J is confused and sketchy and is often muddled with his actor colleagues Manis and Buddha who all played “Clyde” at some stage. They all belonged to the animal training company called Gentle Jungle who perhaps did not live up to their name when it came to looking after the animals. C.J. is said to have been born in the Dallas Zoo and had two trainers, Paul Reynolds and Bill Gage one of which accompanied him when he travelled through Heathrow that day.

According to the Los Angeles Times C.J or Clyde was badly beaten by a trainer for misbehaving during the filming of “Any Which Way You Can” and died later of a cerebral haemorrhage, but there is much debate about this. Whatever the circumstances of his death, his life was obviously no picnic despite the admiration and media coverage he received and meeting him just for the those few hours was such a privilege and had an indelible affect on me. I just hope in these times of CGI we can consign the use of live animals in movies to history.

Updated February 2020

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Abusing animals for entertainment is pure showmanship
Remembering Tyke the circus elephant.

Why we need an animals’ ombudswoman or ombudsman.

puppies, unwanted, stray, dog pound
A Ombudsman could investigate the continual problem of unwanted animals in the UK.

The UK has dozens of ombudsman services covering various industries and state organisations including communications, energy, finance, the motor industry, health, housing and even ones for the removal trade, estate agents and the furniture industry, but nothing for the pet trade industry which appears surprising particularly as it brings over £7 billion to the UK economy.

We are able to complain to our heart’s content when we feel we have been hard done by, but animals literally cannot voice their concerns and complaints and even if they could there is no ombudsman representing them. As owners or keepers of animals we cannot put their case for them either.

When any new policy, regulation, law or amendment to an existing law is considered by the Government all the vested interests that it might affect have their say in lessening the impact it might have on their livelihood or on what is called ‘legitimate human interests’. Governments consult with all these different interest groups such as agriculture, commerce, industry and science and consider their objections and suggestions.

An Ombudsman could have intervened on the issue of badger culling.

But when the policy, law or issue affects the rights and well-being of animals, such as in the case of culling protected badgers, there is no one to speak up for them. Animal charities and campaigners can put their points forward, but there is never a truly impartial person to speak up for them with the power to investigate and research all the evidence and decide on the validity of any proposed actions. An animal’s ombudsman or woman could do this.

Although the UK has a Minister for almost every area of commerce and industry including a Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which covers mainly livestock issues, there is no specific Government office whose sole purpose is to look out for the interests of animals, so it could be argued that we also need a Minister for ‘animal affairs’ who could intervene in issues that might affect large numbers of animals.

An ombudsman for animal affairs is not a new concept

It may seem a strange suggestion to have an animals’ ombudsman or woman, but it is nothing new or unheard of. There has been debate for several years on whether it is time for the UK and other countries to have some form of official legal representative or watchdog solely responsible for representing the rights and welfare interests of animals.

Noel Sweeney, a Barrister and well-known advocate of animal rights has lectured and written about the need for an animals’ ombudswoman for over five years. He has suggested that such a person could represent all animals in Court and Parliament where any action affects their welfare and future and meet with the Law Commission to introduce a new Act with the paramount principle of granting animals a legal personality.

Does this all sound bizarre or silly? Logically it shouldn’t be as we have already taken a step towards this by establishing ‘independent’ Committees such as the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) and the National Companion Animal Focus Group (NCAFG) who supposedly safeguard animals’ interests.

Industry, Countries and Cities already have a ombudswoman for animal welfare

Australia has shown some interest in the concept and there was a petition at one stage and Austria is one of the few countries which actually has an Animal Welfare Spokesman and an animals ombudsman service following a referendum there. Each State elects an independent, non-governmental representative and although not a perfect system it is pioneering in its intentions and beyond anything most counties have.

The city of Lisbon in Portugal appointed a ombudswoman for animal welfare in January this year who was reported to have “made fast work of getting stuck into her job” by immediately announcing a plan to solve the overcrowding in the city’s dog pounds and making an appeal in Parliament for the country’s policymakers to create laws that “better meet the needs of animals”. At her swearing in ceremony she stated, “I want to seize this opportunity to reach out to the population and raise awareness of the issue of animal welfare.”

Back in 2014 the DPZ German Primate Centre in Göttingen, which houses 1300 research primates, appointed an “outsider” ombudswoman which the 43 animal keepers can go to with any welfare concerns instead of the in-house animal welfare officer and welfare committee. The fact that she is a scientist makes it debatable how impartial she is, but it shows that industry, science and governments are not averse to the idea of ombudsman or women.

It is definitely time for this nation of animal lovers to have an ombudsman or woman for animal welfare and follow the lead of Austria and Portugal. Animals need an independent legal representative and a spokesperson with the ear of the Government to investigate suspect decisions, conflicts of interest and policies on the well-being of animals and if necessary instigate prosecutions of any institution that by its actions cause unnecessary suffering.