| Daily Advertiser, The (Lafayette, LA)
March 28, 2008 Section: Main
Ape Facility Details Released It's envisioned as a tourist attraction that will create jobs, provide educational opportunities, draw scientists, but most importantly provide an eco-friendly natural habitat designed to help save a dying species, the great ape. Supporters of efforts to build in Acadiana the world's first National Chimpanzee Observatory and Great Ape Zoological Gardens unveiled their concept at a private event Thursday in River Ranch that included actor Alan Alda, in town filming a PBS documentary, and Noah, an orphaned chimpanzee. "Noah needs me," Denise Dufour, National Great Ape Preservation Foundation board member, said. "Noah needs all of you." Chimpanzees are on the verge of extinction because their natural habitat has been destroyed, Daniel Povinelli, foundation board member said. About 100,000 remain and they could be genetically extinct in five to 10 years. Povinelli, a Louisiana native, Yale University graduate, top researcher on chimpanzees and human cognitive development and UL professor, also is national project director of the National Chimpanzee Observatories Working Group comprised of 50 scientists from the U.S., Canada and Europe. The scientists, from top universities such as Yale, Harvard and Berkeley, endorse the project and want the first National Chimpanzee Observatory to be located in South Louisiana, he said. The primary purpose is to save the chimpanzee, Povinelli said. Observational research that might be conducted at the facility is secondary to saving the great ape, he said. No biomedical research will be conducted at the facility, he said. The proposed facility will differ from Chimp Haven near Shreveport, which is a retirement home for chimps previously used in biomedical research. That facility is only open to the public a few days a year, Povinelli said. The proposed National Chimpanzee Observatory would accept great apes from private breeders, zoos and research facilities, and house them in an open, natural environment on islands. Elevated walkways will allow tourists, students and scientists to observe them at a distance. It differs from an earlier vision for a chimp habitat through UL in that it is much larger, so large the university would be unable to build it, Povinelli said. State Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, is expected to seek a $10 million state capital outlay appropriation to help the nonprofit foundation acquire more than 200 acres of land and design the project. That is needed to prove to the private sector that the project is real and worthwhile, Gregg Gothreaux, president and CEO of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, said. The project would be constructed in phases, with the first being the core attraction in order to generate revenue needed to build and operate the remainder of the project, Povinelli said. State tax dollars and private funding will be needed to build the facility, he said. The observatory and gardens will be an international attraction that could generate $80 million to $120 million in annual revenue, said Gerald Breaux, executive director of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. The project could generate 500 direct jobs and thousands of spin-off jobs, Gothreaux said. One spin-off could be a business park nearby for boutique industries, he said. "This will be the first of its kind in the entire world," said Randy Rivera of L7 Architects in Lafayette. "It's up to Lafayette and Louisiana not to lose it." Author: Claire Taylor
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