Book Review: Captivity by Debbie Lee Wesselmann
Captivity
Debbie Lee Wesselmann
John F. Blair Publisher, 2008
ISBN 0895873532
Hardcover
Recently, the US Congress endowed retirement homes for chimps used in medical laboratory experiments. The facility in Shreveport, LA offers playtime and even TV–not surprising since these animals’ contact was with researchers, their favorite show is “General Hospital.” The reason for this endowment–we have come to realize how human chimps are and cannot simply euthanize them like a dog or a cat.
The South Carolina Primate Project is one such institution. Their primate residents are refugees from medical labs and roadside zoos. The chimps come from a wide variety of different backgrounds–some were born and bred in captivity, some captured in the wild. Some are loving and gentle, and others like “Benji” have been so brutally treated, they require sedation for a human to even treat a wound.
Dr. Dana Armstrong presides over this precariously funded project. She’s a natural for the job, since her family was one of the first to have a chimp member. Her psychologist father, Dr. Reginald Armstrong, was one of the University of Oklahoma professors who adopted a chimpanzee and took the primate in as a family member. The Armstrong family’s interactions with Annie were videotaped and shown all over the world. To this day, the Armstrong children are still haunted by their ‘sister’ and wonder what happened to Annie when the funding for their project ran out.
Captivity opens with a crisis at the sanctuary. Someone’s broken in and set the chimps free. Benji, one of the HIV-positive chimps is loose. He’s their most dangerous resident, having suffered serious abuse from a prior roadside zoo owner. Even the familiar handlers approach Benji with extreme care. If he bites or harms someone from nearby Harris, SC, it’s conceivable he could infect them with HIV.
The break-in exacerbates a problem brewing for some time prior. A former colleague of Dana’s father has been spreading rumors about the SCPP for some time. Now, he’s openly saying that Dana’s an unfit caretaker for the chimps and is bidding to become the next SCPP director. Add to that, a journalist has come to town and is asking Dana about Annie, and Dana’s younger brother, Zack’s come to visit as well.
Debbie Wesselmann deftly teaches us about the trials and tribulations of university funding and heading a controversial project in the Deep South. She treats the chimpanzee issues with an even-handed honesty and compassion. Captivity‘s tension carries strongly to the end. Like the best of stories, we’ve left with a satisfactory and reasonable conclusion, but questions of our own to ask.
I’d recommend Captivity to anyone who’s interested in animal stories and seeks an understanding of human-animal interaction. While the book has some mature themes, it’s suitable for young adult readers past 9th grade and would be an excellent read for students in that age group interested in zoology or veterinary science.
Reviewed by Rebecca Kyle, March 2008.
October 27, 2010
Tags: general fiction, John F. Blair, research, sanctuary, wildlife Posted in: Full Reviews
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