Taking Baby Chimps From Their Mothers Is Cruel

Regarding “An Expert Mother” (Aug. 30), I find it abominable that you feature Kelley Greene as the “Expert Mother,” when in fact, each baby chimp has its own, live, like-species mother, who would be more than willing to raise her own baby. Little was mentioned that each chimp mother “moped for days” following separation from her baby, which occurred following anesthesia. I am shocked that the L.A. Zoo has not done anything to keep these babies together with their respective mothers, but are instead waiting over a year to reunite the families! Their excuse was fear “that they might be killed by roughhousing males.” Has anyone thought to separate these “roughhousing males” rather than interfere between mother and baby chimps? How should we explain this to our own children when they see this?

--RANDI SIMENHOFF

Encino

*

I was appalled to learn that the L.A. Zoo’s response to the infanticide by the male chimps was to separate the baby chimps from their mothers. Is this their best solution? To say that the mothers “moped for days” when they lost their babies puts a light spin on this scenario. I think we’ve learned enough about primates to know how complex and intelligent they are. They suffer grief and loss much the same as any of us.

--KATHLEEN ALGIERS

Glendale