Meshie and the Boy With Whom She Lived

The relationship between humans and wild animals has always been one filled with tension and dichotomies. A recent article in the New York Times details the fascinating story of Harry Raven and the chimpanzee, Meshie, with whom he shared his home and childhood.

Mr. Raven's father, Henry Cushier Raven was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and he brought Meshie, an orphaned chimp, back from Africa on one of his expeditions for which he was famous. The chimp lived with his family and was kept in a cage in the basement or backyard.

Apparently, Meshie was the subject of many movies that his father made. In these films, Meshie plays with the children (Harry and his three siblings), but according to Harry it was all for the movies. He still bears the scar from when Meshie bit him on the finger--hard.

In fact, Meshie was the object of his father's affection in a way that his children never were, according to Harry. "I can't think of him every giving anybody a hug, except, Meshie," says Harry. "I used to go down the street and wait for him to get off the commuter bus. I would run down to give him a hug, he would lean down and I would kiss him on the cheek, but he would never kiss me."

In 1934, Meshie was shipped to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, apparently after Harry's mother, who was then pregnant with her fourth child, told her husband she couldn't take it any more. Meshie died in 1937 and Harry's father had her body shipped back to the Natural History Museum where she is stuffed and on display.

Harry, now 82 and the only surviving sibling, visited her recently and even imitated her noises for the New York Times reporter. For all of the grief she caused him, Harry bears no grudge.

"Meshie caused familial disruption. She was a presence. It wasn't her fault. She really didn't do anything. It was the fact that my father paid attention to her at the expense of his family. She was just a presence, but my father--was just not a good father. He was not a good father."

The moral of the story? Let wild things be wild.