Michael Jackson's Zoo

[Guest guest]

Some update on 'Bubbles', and yes the report here says that MJ had rescued

the Chimp from a Cancer research Institute?

Azam

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5683844/Michael-Jackson\

s-chimp-Bubbles-plans-comeback.html

 

Michael Jackson's chimp Bubbles plans comebackMichael Jackson’s chimpanzee

Bubbles is poised for a comeback, with a Hollywood film and lucrative book

deal in the offing according to his new owner.

By Heidi Blake

Published: 11:38AM BST 29 Jun 2009

 

The 26-year-old ape is living in the animal sanctuary where he was taken in

2003 after becoming too aggressive to live alongside

*Jackson<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/>

*’s baby son Prince Michael II.

 

Despite reports that he became suicidal after first being separated from his

former owner, Bubbles is now said to be fully recovered and preparing to

cash in on his time in the limelight.

 

“There’s a lot of interest,” his new trainer Bob Dunn told *The Sun*.

“Bubbles has led an interesting life. There’s lots to say.”

 

Jackson rescued the chimpanzee, then three years old, from a Texas cancer

research clinic in 1985. The pair soon became inseparable, often appearing

in matching outfits.

 

Bubbles sat in on the recording of the *Bad* album along with Jackson’s pet

snake, and accompanied the singer to the filming of the* Bad* music video.

 

The pair travelled together on the *Bad* world tour, sharing a two-bedroom

hotel suite in Tokyo, and the ape reportedly learned to copy some of his

owner’s signature dance moves, including the legendary moonwalk.

 

Bubbles moved into Jackson's Neverland Ranch in 1988, having initially lived

at the Jackson family's Encino home.

 

When Elizabeth Taylor announced that her eighth wedding, to Larry Fortensky,

would take place at the ranch three years later, rumours that Bubbles was to

be the ring bearer were widely reported. They later turned out to be false.

 

Though the ape is now said to be juggling lucrative publicity offers in the

wake of his former owner’s death, his new trainer said he would be “upset”

never to see Jackson again.

 

“Bubbles and Michael were close friends and playmates. Their bond was

unique,” said Mr Dunn.

 

“Bubbles missed him when they parted and will miss him now. Chimpanzees

remember people and stuff. The last time Michael visited Bubbles recognised

him.”

 

 

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 11:06 AM, <

journalistandanimals wrote:

 

> *Hello,*

> * I had asked Jane Goodall what she thought of Michael Jackson

> keeping a chimpanzee as a pet. She had replied she did not approve of the

> practice and had requested Michael Jackson to relinquish Bubbles, who would

> skate and emulate the famous 'Moon Walk.' Michael Jackson did not agree. I

> am not sure what exactly happened to Bubbles and if he is still alive.

> Nonetheless, Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song' had a massive impact on animal

> protection and conservation worlwide.*

> * Regards,*

> * *

> * *

> **

> *

>

> http://news./s/afp/20090629/ts_afp/entertainmentusmusicjacksonanimal

> *<

> http://news./s/afp/20090629/ts_afp/entertainmentusmusicjacksonanimal

> >

> *Questions mount over Jackson animal kingdom

> AFP/File – " Michael Jackson and Bubbles " , a sculpture of top-selling US

> artist Jeff Koons exhibited in … *

> *by Shaun Tandon Shaun Tandon – Sun Jun 28, 11:30 pm ET

> LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Besides leaving a musical legacy, Michael Jackson

> orphaned an array of exotic pets with some of them unaccounted for and even

> his beloved chimpanzee Bubbles depending on donations.

> In what was once seen mostly as a harmless eccentricity, Jackson at the

> height of stardom amassed a private zoo of giraffes, tigers and other

> foreign animals at Neverland, his sprawling fantasy estate in California.

> Nearly all of the animals have been moved to new homes in the past few

> years

> as Jackson's personal and financial woes worsened, with animal rights

> activists saying some have become roadside attractions in uncertain

> conditions.

> Bubbles, once the world's best known ape who slept in the superstar's

> bedroom and mastered his Moonwalk dance, has lived since 2005 at the Center

> for Great Apes in Florida, the head of the sanctuary said.

> Jackson did not provide financial support for Bubbles and, despite his

> stated desire, never visited him there, said Patti Ragan, director of the

> Center for Great Apes.

> " To this date, all donations for his care have come from the Center for

> Great Ape?s supporters. We depend on donations in order to care for all our

> animals in need, " she said.

> An image of Bubbles on the center's website appeals to the public to make

> donations to care for him and other residents of the sanctuary, designed to

> provide a natural environment for apes who had been used as performers or

> pets.

> The website, which does not directly mention Bubbles' famous former

> guardian, described the chimp as having a " broad, handsome face and a lot

> of

> charima. "

> Ragan estimated it cost 16,000 dollars a year to care for each ape, who

> usually live to be at least 50 years old.

> Jackson rescued Bubbles from a Texas medical laboratory where he was bought

> by Bob Dunn, a Hollywood animal trainer. Jackson returned Bubbles to Dunn

> after the singer had children, who risk being injured by a large chimp.

> Dunn, contacted by AFP, declined comment, saying he was negotiating a deal

> to speak publicly about Bubbles. The Florida center said Dunn handed to it

> Bubbles and all his other apes in 2005 when he exited the business.

> Dunn was quoted as telling Britain's News of the World tabloid that Jackson

> thought of Bubbles as " his first child " and regularly visited while Bubbles

> was in Dunn's California preserve.

> While Bubbles remains high-profile, animal rights group People for the

> Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it was hard to track down most of

> Jackson's former pets.

> Lisa Wathne, PETA's specialist in captive exotic animals, voiced particular

> concern about two of Jackson's orangutans sent to a private owner in

> Connecticut and reptiles at a roadside zoo in Oklahoma.

> She said Jackson's case showed why wild animals should not be kept as pets.

> " All too often even people who start with good intentions, as Michael

> Jackson certainly did, don't have the ability to properly care for these

> animals, " she said.

> " And unfortunately in Michael Jackson's case he did apparently run into

> financial problems that ultimately led to his animals being disbursed to

> places all over the world. We don't know, frankly, where most of them ended

> up. "

> PETA in January 2006 complained to US authorities that animals were being

> mistreated in Neverland. The authorities inspected the estate's menagerie

> but found no evidence of abuse or neglect.

> Jackson's two tigers, Thriller and Sabu, were taken in at a sanctuary in

> California run by former actress Tippi Hedren.

> The Voices of the Wild Foundation, which runs an animal preserve in

> Arizona,

> adopted Jackson's four giraffes along with reptiles and exotic birds. But

> PETA says the conditions were too cramped for giraffes.

> Director Freddie Hancock appealed to Jackson fans to send donations in his

> memory so that the preserve can adopt more animals.

> Hancock had nothing but praise for Jackson, saying he maintained " beautiful

> facilities " for the animals in Neverland.

> " I think he just loved animals. And when you're an individual who loves

> animals, the animals know that, " Hancock said.*

>

>

>