The Buckshire 8


"It was, for Cari Bucher, a tragic tale. An administrative assistant and animal-rights activist based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Cairo had heard that The Buckshire Corporation planned to sell eight adult chimpanzees for HIV, Hepatitis C, and toxicology testing. Nothing surprising about that: Buckshire's business is selling animals to labs. But the company had already agreed to retire the chimps under the care of Primarily Primates, an animal sanctuary in Texas. Unfortunately, there was a catch: Primarily Primates would have to build a $126,000 enclosure to house the animals. The nonprofit group simply did not have the money.

Nor did Cari, but she did have a plan-- and a modem. She called Wallace Swett, director of Primarily Primates, and asked to tell the chimps' story in her own way. She created a website explaining the animals' plight and soliciting funds. Word of the Buckshire Eight spread through cyberspace, and within weeks, calls and cash were pouring in to the Primarily Primates office from all over the world. Thanks to Cari's efforts and the generosity of the hundreds of people who visited the site, the Buckshire Eight now live in a comfortable retirement compound in San Antonio, Texas, where they await the arrival of four new chimps donated by the Buckshire Corporation" (courtesy of: http://www.cyber24.com)