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Nicole, born February 25, 1983, shown here at just four or five years old. “Nicole was my best chimp buddy! She was 4 or 5 years old when we met. We had a wonderful rapport that I will NEVER forget. She was very easy to recognize because she had the most distinct, light brown eyes. She was beautiful, sensitive and gentle. Nicole tended to be very submissive. We would sit with each other every day. She had the most incredible sense of musical timing. I would sing to her and with the back of her hand she would take her nails and strum them across the chain link cage twice *Plink Plink* and then clap her hands twice *Clap Clap*. She would do this series of plinks and claps (always twice) in perfect rhythm to the song I was singing at the time. When I left APF, I promised to come back for her.” – Holly, former maintenance worker
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The surviving chimpanzees of the Alamogordo Primate Facility have spent long and difficult years in laboratories, but since 2001 have been free from invasive tests and have seen their day to day lives slowly improve.
However, the National Institutes of Health still holds custody to this group of mostly elderly, chronically ill chimpanzees and plans to move these sensitive, intelligent creatures for further cruel, ineffective research.
What can people do to prevent this ethical
and economic travesty?
1. Call Congress today and ask for support of the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513). This bill would end government testing on chimpanzees and retire federally-owned chimps, like the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees, to sanctuary at last. If you have already called, thank you, please call again to let your elected officials know this issue demands action.
Taxpayers will save $300 million over the next ten years when this bill passes, please call to express your support for Flo, Nicole, and all of the chimps from the Alamogordo Primate Facility facing further invasive testing.
Today we know that chimpanzees have minds, emotions, and memories not unlike humans, it is unethical to continue to force these animals to endure traumatic procedures like bone and liver biopsies and vaginal and tracheal washings. Modern medical research does not require the use of chimpanzees as cell-based techniques and other humane, accurate ways to study disease have emerged. Read more about why the U.S. should end the use of chimps in research from the Albuquerque Journal, Scientific American, and Nature.
2. Visit RetireTheChimps.org and send a message to the National Institutes of Health - the public knows it's time to Retire The Chimps.
3. Review our timeline to learn more about what the chimps have endured and how people have helped to date.
4. Volunteer to help the campaign, fill out a volunteer form or email us today.
5. Purchase a chimp tag and wear it proudly until all 1000 chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories are retired!
| Flo in an outdoor enclosure at the front of APF. Flo has lived with other elder chimpanzees with indoor-outdoor access, fresh fruit, and enrichment at APF in New Mexico. The expected captive chimpanzee lifespan is 50. Flo turns 53 this September. Why subject her to this move? |
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