Just watched a documentary on animal planet ... it featured the a caretaker/ researcher adopting 2 little chimps and raising them as if they were her own ... the idea was that with much love and attention from a parent the little chimps would be able to express themselves in time ... to humans that is. well ... the process was rather interesting to say the least .. and the oh-so-cute chimps were simply adorable ... ... to sum it all up, the chimps learnt a variety of skills a normal child learns : colours, objects and facial expressions ... and were able to express how they felt when shown events of the past ( like when one of them was punished, it felt angry and sad ) ... quite cool ... anyway ... it concluded that chimps posses the same range of emotions as humans do ... ( sounds duh right ?! but i guess everything needs scientific records to be affirmed ... anyway being genetically different we cant say for sure if they posses the full range ? )
which sorta led me to tink ... chimps being sold as pets .. being chained or abused .. wont they feel something as well ? imagine if being caged somewhere while your cage mates are taken to the kitchen for dinner time ... shudder ... sounds like scene from a horror flick but its happening all ard ... oh well chimps are only animals ... so what !? but what if they're able to feel whatever you feel ... ? Fear, sadness, happiness, jealousy, longing, panic, love ... in that situation .. how would you feel ?