Lucy´s Story

This podcast follows the heart wrenching story of Lucy the chimpanzee.  In an effort to better understand the psychological state of the chimpanzee´s brain, several scientists decided to raise Lucy as they would a human child.  Later, Jamie was brought into the picture, first as a caretaker, then as Lucy’s main human connection.  Lucy’s life story is the saddening tale of a chimpanzee that finds herself stranded in the gulf between two species, unable to be human, but not exactly chimpanzee.

                Lucy had many human-like qualities that were almost uncanny.  For example, she could use language in a way that showed her grasp of it.  She also responded sexually to images of human males, and was able to recognize and respond to human emotion with emotional feedback herself.  I would classify her as one of the animals that people argue should be classified as “non-human persons”.  Because of this quality, when her “parents” decided to terminate the Lucy experiment, there was a bit of a problem.  They brought Lucy to a nature reserve, but she was showing signs of severe stress, such as infections.  So Jamie ended up taking Lucy and several other experimental chimpanzees.  She took them to a deserted island. Most of the chimpanzees adjusted, but Lucy clung to Jamie for more than a year.  However, after many battles of will, Lucy adjusted to the area and lived there until she died.

                I think one of the big things I will remember is the ethics of this story.  Taking a chimpanzee and making tem human enough to no longer be a chimpanzee, but not human enough to be human, then to abandon them in this in-between state is completely unethical.  You leave the animal with nowhere to fit in.  How can we force that on any person, human or not?  I think it’s sad, that we saw this depth of genuine emotion in Lucy, but were unable to accommodate for her physical needs.  It brings forward the issue of non-human persons.  Should chimpanzees be classified in this category?  One thing’s for sure: leaving these chimpanzees in this half state in immoral and unethical.