COLORADAN LANDS IN BBC SPOTLIGHT
BBC America series from Liberia runs through Dec. 19
BBC’s “Baby Chimp Rescue” follows the efforts of Coloradan Jenny Desmond and her husband, Jimmy, to care for 21 orphaned chimpanzees in Liberia.
Jenny Desmond’s habit of bouncing around Colorado wasn’t always elegant, or even strategic. But in hindsight, it was a sort of preparation for her world travels — a sign that wherever she stopped, it wouldn’t be where she’d end up.
“I went to Colorado State University for my undergrad degree, but got kicked out because I partied too much,” Desmond said over a Zoom call from Liberia this week. “That was really great fun, actually.”
Desmond, who would finish her degree in social work at Metropolitan State before returning to CSU — and later, the University of Denver, for her master’s in social work — did not plan on becoming a lead personality on a British TV show based in Africa, either. But here we are.
Or here they were, rather, Desmond and a sweet- faced animal who were peering into a laptop camera lens for a press interview last week. As Desmond talked, she cradled Mary Beauty, a 6week- old chimpanzee whose mother was slaughtered for bushmeat. Desmond can’t put her down — ever, lest the chimp begin screaming.
Next to her, a blanket pulled up to her chest, was Barbie, another adorable, if painfully thin, orphaned chimp who was very sick. This is what Desmond’s doing now. But it’s not what she thought she’d be doing.
“I made my parents crazy because I rescued every animal I could and refused to put them in cages,” Desmond said. “But that wasn’t what I studied. And then, later, I met the orangutans in Borneo at a rescue center. We were just visiting but we said, ‘ Do you need volunteers?’ That was the start of a lot of stuff, because I realized, ‘ This is what I can do.’ “
“Baby Chimp Rescue,” which follows efforts by Desmond and her husband, Jimmy, to care for 21 orphaned chimpanzees in
West Africa, premiered on BBC America Dec. 5, with subsequent episodes airing Dec. 12 and 19. The three- part documentary series carefully balances the brain- melting cuteness of baby chimpanzees ( often playing with people, dogs and each other) and
realistic wild- animal care that debunks pop- culture myths about endangered animals.
“Chimps are portrayed wrongly in media all the time,” Jenny Desmond said. “You know that big smile you see on commercials and on greeting cards and social media? That’s a fear face. They’re not smiling; they’re actually terrified.”
After years of caring for animals in Kenya and Liberia — following stints living and working in Asia and Australia — the Desmonds were skeptical about doing a TV series in general. Despite the tailormade subject matter, and the fact that Jimmy was an experienced wildlife veterinarian, the proposed show would blow their lives wide open.
Indeed, the camera crew carefully followed the Desmonds’ efforts to train their 21 rescued baby chimps ( at the time, anyway; that number has since nearly doubled) how to survive on their own while working toward a new sanctuary in the forest — all so this “unconventional family can live as natural a life as possible,” as the BBC put it.
Creator, writer and producer Lindsey Parietti was already a known quantity, having worked with the Desmonds’ sanctuary on fundraising videos, and interviewed them for the award- winning documentary “Blood Island.”
“What we do is very complex, so it was probably a big challenge for them to show everything,” Desmond said. “It wasn’t completely in the wild, and it wasn’t completely at a zoo or sanctuary. We give these babies a lifetime of care, but at the same time the goal is not to get them, so we work with law enforcement and NGOs to increase awareness and make sure this stops. The series caught that, and I haven’t seen that in a lot of other shows.”
Since 2010, the Desmonds and their dog costar Princess have worked with The Jane Goodall Institute, Smithsonian Institute, Diana Fossey Gorilla Fund International and other organizations to help wildlife and further conservation. With their population “in free fall,” a habitat disappearing due to deforestation, and relentless hunting, chimpanzees have become Desmond’s specialty — and family.
“People are appalled when they hear about it. ‘ How can someone kill and eat a chimp?’ And I agree, but there’s a lot of other bad stuff people do, so it’s not ( surprising),” Desmond said. “True conservationists would say you should care for them because they’re critically endangered, but for me, they’re individuals and it’s about making sure they have a life they deserve after being traumatized and losing their mothers.”
Coloradans’ healing touch with animals feels overrepresented when it comes to TV, strange as that may sound. Animal Planet’s “Emergency Vets,” “Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet” and “Hanging with the Hendersons” have been built around Colorado vets. Same with Disney’s “Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue,” currently streaming on Disney+. Plus, many of the abused tigers featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King” series ended up at Keenesburg’s Wildlife Animal Sanctuary.
And now, the Desmonds — with the help of friends such as chimp- expert Ben Garrod -- are leading the TV charge for baby- chimp rescue in West Africa.
“We have been very fortunate with a lot of generous people helping out from around the world, and a lot of friends and family in Colorado — which we still consider our home base,” Desmond said. “We’re almost complete with phase one, which is moving the conservation center and sanctuary to a new site. We want to create a semi- natural habitat where they go into the forest every day, but come in at night, since they’ll still be dependent on humans.”
The goal is not to release all the animals back to the wild, although some are successfully reintroduced to their habitats, given that Liberia still has protected forests. As long as they’re getting babies, Desmond said, it’s a sign that chimps are being hunted for meat and the exotic- pet trade, and swift reintroduction may not be safe. The goal is to give them a life.
“Lee and Diana, my nieces who live in Colorado, help with therapy a lot,” Desmond said of the virtual sessions, as my own young children crowded the laptop monitor to glimpse the babies over Zoom. “Actually, we have so many kids who support what we do, which is one of my favorite things about it.
“Chimps are cute, funny, and super smart, and obviously we adore every one of them,” she said. “I understand the appeal of watching them do their thing. But I also want them to understand why they’re here, with us.”