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Group Not Amused by Monkey Spoof Web Site

Posted on: Thursday, 7 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

A Web site that spoofs the computer programming industry by offering chimpanzees and baboons to work for as little as 50 cents an hour has taken its monkey business too far, says the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary.

The Web site touts a fictitious Des Moines-based company called Primate Programming Inc., which it says was based on work done at the sanctuary showing apes can learn language and perform complex cognitive tasks.

Officials at the research center were not amused and asked the Web site's developer, Dan Mezick, to remove all references to the sanctuary from his site.

The sanctuary is being built on a 137-acre site near the Des Moines River. Founder Ted Townsend has said it will be a world-class research center where scientists can study ape culture, including the way apes learn and communicate.

"We're putting together a team of world-renowned scientists who have devoted their lives to primate learning," said Al Setka, sanctuary spokesman. "Our mission is sanctuary, research and education. We take that very seriously, and we don't want there to be any confusion."

Mezick, president of New Technology Solutions, a North Haven, Conn., company that trains computer programmers, said he never intended to harm the center and planned to remove the references.

The Web site suggests companies provide "a leafy, comfortable workspace" and warns that "hominids (great apes) will not share source code and become very territorial when programming."

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