Rick Bogle and Lynn Pauly who served as education volunteers in Liberia now lead Priamte Freedom Movement
Rick Bogle and Lynn Pauly
Rick Bogle and Lynn Pauly met in 1981 during Peace Corps training in Washington, D.C. They served as education volunteers in Liberia, West Africa. While in Liberia, Rick taught seventh grade math and started a community adult literacy class. Lynn worked at a curriculum development center and trained elementary school teachers. She taught adult literacy in the evening.
Lynn and Rick in Liberia on the way to school in the morning.
Lynn has fourteen years of teaching experience. She has taught every grade from first grade through eighth grade.
Rick has eight years of teaching experience. He has taught special education students, remedial reading, sixth grade, and middle school math and science.
Rick and Lynn began working to end primate experimentation after learning about the problem from Sheri Speed, a veterinarian from Portland, Oregon, in 1997. Their effort began with the Ape Army and Rick visiting the (then) seven NIH Regional Primate Research Centers.
The Ape Army began when supporters started giving Rick stuffed monkeys as a show of support. Their ranks swelled until hundreds were accompanying him around the country.
Rick sat and handed out information in front of each of the NIH primate centers for nine days at a time, from five in the morning until ten at night. Many people began learning what was happening behind the locked gates. Lynn worked behind the scenes. She took care of their home, their cats, and taught for another year.
Just a few hours before Rick left Wisconsin. The displays and poster have all been put away and the crowds of protestors have left.
Rick wrote the Call for an Immediate Presidential Moratorium on Primate Experimentation that has now been signed by over two hundred organizations.
In 1998, Rick and Lynn joined with other concerned citizens and founded the Coalition to End Primate Experimentation (CEPE). Rick created the CEPE website which became the premier online source for information on primate experimentation occurring in the U.S.
Rick and Lynn began producing and distributing Primate Freedom Tags.
CEPE organized and was the prime sponsor of the 1999 Primate Freedom Tour. Activists from around the country visited twenty-four primate labs over the summer. Large demonstrations and marches were held. Many newspaper articles and much television coverage brought additional exposure to the problem.
The Tour ended with a large rally in Washington, D.C. where many well-known speakers from around the country added their voice to the call for an end to primate experimentation.
In 1999, Rick and Lynn incorporated the Primate Freedom Project as a not-for profit corporation and began publishing the life stories of monkeys trapped or killed in the labs on the Primate Freedom Project website.
In 2002, Rick and Lynn began producing the Congressional Educator and urging concerned citizens to ask their representatives to intervene in the government’s primate vivisection program.
Both Lynn and Rick have worked at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee rescue Center in Cameroon. Here, Lynn is caring for Baboule, a bushmeat orphan. Rick is talking to Nama, a female who had been chained to this spot for many years. Today, they both live in a large forested area, protected by around-the-clock guards.
Rick and Lynn say they miss teaching and working with students. The government’s decision to hurt primates has cost some students the opportunity to be taught by these two excellent teachers.
