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1. Why are there so many captive chimpanzees in New Mexico?
In the 1950s, the United States Air Force shipped baby chimpanzees from Africa to Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, for use in space program testing. After chimps were no longer useful in the space program, they were used in biomedical testing, and were owned by a series of labs and institutions.
The most infamous biomedical research institution in New Mexico was run by Dr. Frederick Coulston, recipient of many millions in federal and private contracts for cruel and sloppy research. At one point The Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo owned over 600 chimpanzees in a successful effort to become the world’s largest chimpanzee research colony.
In 2000, public pressure about horrific animal deaths and falsified research resulted in formal government sanctions against The Coulston Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health seized 288 chimpanzees and housed them all on Holloman Air Force Base. These are the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) chimpanzees who today are being forced back into research.
In 2002, facing lost research contracts and financial ruin, Frederick Coulston gave his remaining 266 chimpanzees to the sanctuary organization Save the Chimps, Inc. Read about the amazing work of Save the Chimps and their advocacy for the APF chimpanzees here.
Ex-Coulston chimps who are now safe from research may also be found at the Albuquerque Zoo and at Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Animal Sanctuary in Texas.
2. Aren’t the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees retired?
No. Since 2001, the chimps have been warehoused at APF on Holloman Air Force Base under a management contract with biomedical research giant, Charles River Laboratories. According to the management contract, which is set to expire in May 2011, no invasive research is permitted on the Base.
Since 2001, small groups of APF chimpanzees have been quietly shipped off to labs across the country for use in invasive research. And in 2004, the Otero County District Attorney charged Charles River Laboratories with animal cruelty following the deaths of chimpanzees at APF.
In late June 2010, the National Institutes of Health notified Senator Tom Udall of its decision to close APF and move the remaining 202 chimpanzees to Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, TX, where they will be used for invasive research.
From the space program to The Coulston Foundation to Charles River Laboratories, these chimpanzees and their ancestors have spent long and difficult years in New Mexico labs.
3. Why can’t sanctuaries just take the chimpanzees?
National Institutes of Health (NIH) owns the chimpanzees and continues to claim they are needed in labs for invasive research to benefit human health, despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
While federal law does provide funding for retirement care of lab chimpanzees in sanctuary, the NIH must designate the APF chimps as “permanently retired” before the chimps can be safe forever.
Chimpanzee sanctuaries continue to speak out against NIH’s plans to force the APF chimps back into research --- sanctuaries in many cases house and care for relatives of the APF chimps. For example, see Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s August newsletter.
4. What research is planned for the chimpanzees?
On July 21st, Vice President of Public Affairs for Southwest National Primate Research Center, Joe Carey, stated that the APF chimpanzees, “will be made available to the national biomedical research community primarily for developing vaccines and drugs for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as testing monoclonal antibody therapies for a wide range of diseases including cancer and autoimmune diseases.”
To see what life is like for chimpanzees in research, watch footage from ABC’s Nightline investigation in 2009. These are the conditions the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees are facing.
Southwest National Primate Research Center (Southwest) claims the APF chimpanzees will be well cared for, but inspection reports tell a different story. Recent severe problems at Southwest include a necropsy (animal autopsy) performed on a live baboon (pdf).
5. Don’t we need to perform research with chimpanzees to help advance human health?
No. Chimpanzees are poor models for human disease research. Southwest plans to use the chimpanzees for hepatitis and cancer research, although more than four decades of chimpanzee research have failed to produce a human vaccine against hepatitis C and there are vast differences between humans and chimpanzees in the progression of cancer.
Progress in research and testing is being made without the use of chimpanzees. For more information, please see these links.
6. What should happen for the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees?
The chimpanzees need sanctuary care and permanent retirement from invasive research.
Currently the best path to retirement is to keep the chimps at Alamogordo Primate Facility, but have the facility managed by a non-profit sanctuary accountable to taxpayers. This course would provide for the health and welfare of the chimpanzees, maintain jobs in Alamogordo, maintain federal dollars coming into the state, and forever change New Mexico’s legacy with chimpanzees.
NIH is an agency funded by our tax dollars, just as APF is a facility built with our tax dollars. Congress has oversight of government spending, and the power to intervene so the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees are given the permanent retirement to sanctuary that Americans want and the chimps deserve.
Created August 4, 2010
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