A very disturbing piece of news was published a few days ago about chimpanzees currently living at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. For the original article, click here.
(APF is not to be confused with the sanctuary Save the Chimps, who rescued 266 chimpanzees from research in 2002, and is moving chimpanzees from the facility they own near APF to islands in Florida.)
Alamogordo Primate Facility is being run by Charles River Laboratories under a contract from the National Institutes of Heath (NIH). The laboratory has come under serious scrutiny many times over the years, and even charged with animal cruelty, though the stipulations of their NIH contract prevent the chimpanzees from being used in invasive research.
Now, the NIH has decided to close APF and transfer the chimpanzees to research laboratories where they could be put into invasive biomedical research. It is a tragic and backwards move for those 200 individuals and for the protection of chimpanzees in general.
The group Animal Protection of New Mexico (APNM) is trying to fight this move, and they encourage everyone to contact their representatives about this issue, whether they live in New Mexico or not. These chimpanzees are supported by our tax dollars and we have a say in how that money is to be spent.
APNM would like the chimpanzees to stay in Alamogordo and for a sanctuary to take over the facility to allow the permanent retirement of the chimpanzees.
Please call your federal representatives or write a polite email or letter to them. For talking points, visit the APNM webpage on the issue and read this strong editorial from the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico’s major newspaper, published this morning:
Link to article: http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/editorials/162128150871opinioneditorials07-16-10.htm
Friday, July 16, 2010
Feds’ Chimp Transfer A Lose-Lose-Lose Deal
The federal government’s plan to move chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to a San Antonio lab is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to believe someone with all 23 human chromosome pairs approved it.
• Morally, it’s abhorrent to take more than 200 sentient beings that have spent decades living with the endless boredom, confinement, fear and stress of laboratory life and — after a 10-year hiatus from testing — thrust them back into it because a bureaucrat at the National Institutes of Health thinks “mechanisms for increasing the cost-effectiveness of chimpanzee breeding, maintenance, and research must be developed.”
• Fiscally, it’s irresponsible because there is no cost-effectiveness to chimp research. The lifetime tab for maintaining one chimpanzee in a lab has been estimated at nearly $900,000. Animal Protection of New Mexico says converting APF — where the chimps now live — to a sanctuary would save taxpayers $50 million. It would also keep 42 jobs in Alamogordo.
Sending the 200-plus chimps to Texas will also incur the taxpayer-funded expense of retrofitting the Southwest Foundation National Primate Research Center so it can accommodate animals that weigh up to 170 pounds. The facility was built for macaques, which weigh only about 30 pounds.
• Scientifically, it’s wasteful. While chimpanzees and humans have genetic similarities, they are so different on a cellular level that research into a long list of infectious diseases has proven fruitless. After more than four decades of chimp research into hepatitis C, there is still no human vaccine — in part because chimps don’t transmit the disease like humans. Chimps also develop heart disease and cancer in completely different ways. They don’t develop AIDS and die from HIV, the reason the government’s ill-conceived breeding program has created a surplus of infected, captive animals.
There are solid reasons why no other developed nation in the world still uses chimps for testing; countries from Australia to the United Kingdom have banned the practice. And yet the United States, circa 2010, plans to take animals that have already unknowingly given their health and freedom, and incur additional taxpayer expense for what, exactly?
New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall has requested a meeting with the NIH. The rest of the state’s congressional delegation should join him, and each member must demand answers and alternatives that address this plan’s moral, fiscal and scientific problems.
marie cross uk says
i had a google mess about this article , it really does not bare thinking about , it would be so incredibly cruel i hope and pray an alternative is found so sad
Laura says
thank you for posting, Diana!
leslie sodaro says
forgive me if i offend anyone, but it would be kinder (in my opinion) to euthanize them then see them back in the hell of research … the second paragraph of the article states that the funding to support them ends this year. that leaves very little time to find alternate solutions.
Candy (Tyler, Texas) says
Diana, I read this story and my heart dropped, I couldn’t believe it. If I understood the articles, I’ve read, the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) chimps have been retired for a while, which is even worse for the chimps.
I mapped the distance between Holloman AFB and Save the Chimps, in New Mexico, and they’re only 17 miles apart, so close to a “permanent” retirement.
I looked up Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, on Google Earth, I love Google Earth. It’s a massive facility, unfortunately, with plenty of open space and room to grow.
According to [email protected], the two oldest chimps are Flo, born 1957, and Guy, born 1959. Flo’s my age, I can’t even imagine what she’s endured in 53 years of research. I can’t even imagine how they’ll transport that many chiimpanzees, I don’t think their ride will be as nice as the Save the Chimps trailer.
I’m emailing a letter to some politicians, in my hometown, and San Antonio.
To Diana and J.B.–
May your wedding day, tomorrow, be beautiful and blessings to you both.
leslie sodaro says
oh my … i didn’t know there is to be a wedding … have a wonderful day and wonderful life.
Diana says
Candy – the chimps at APF have not been used in research for several years, that’s true. Similar to the Cle Elum Seven before they came to the sanctuary. They were basically being warehoused at Buckshire without being used as test subjects. This is part of the rationalization of the NIH for moving the APF, so that they can make more use of them than where they are now. It’s so unfortunate that they are owned by NIH and are at their mercy. So sad to think about Flo and Guy.
Actually the wedding day is next Saturday. Thanks for the well wishes!
Linda (Portland, OR) says
My heart broke into a million pieces as I read this posting. I will send an email to my state’s Senator. (He hears from me pretty regularly when there are chimps involved!).
On another note…………………..my very best to J.B. and Diana. We seem to be having some nice summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest right now so I’m sure the two of you will have a beautiful day!!
Theresa says
What is so hard about people understanding the fruitlessness of research on chimps? The record proves that they do not react to human diseases in a way to find a cure or vaccine for many of the diseases that are tested. Why is the US the only country still doing research on chimps? I strongly object to my tax dollars being spent to abuse these wonderful creatures. This makes me sick on so many levels. Like Leslie, I would rather they be euthanized than be subjected to more torture. As for my congressmen, they are useless. Every time I send a letter I get a message about them not being on that particular “committee”. Needless to say I would like nothing more than for both of them to be voted out of office. I feel so terrible for these poor chimps. Flo and Guy especially have earned their retirement. Sometimes I am not only ashamed to be human but an American as well. I thought we were a civilized country.
Roslyn in Montreal says
I read today, on the Animal Protection of New Mexico Facebook page, that New Mexico State Governor Bill Richardson is supporting efforts to save the Alamogordo Chimpanzees!
Here’s a link to an official press release from his office dated July 22, 2010:
http://www.governor.state.nm.us/press.php?id=1651
Quote:
Governor Bill Richardson today announced his support to save the 202 chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility on Holloman Air Force Base who may be moved out of state to be used for invasive research. The Governor sent a letter today to Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, expressing his concerns for the chimpanzees and the more than 40 jobs that will be lost if the chimps are moved to Texas.
“This is an urgent situation and I am asking the National Institutes of Health to permanently retire the 202 chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility so that they may not be used for invasive research. New Mexico wants to save these chimpanzees who have already given so much of their lives to the American public as part of medical research studies,” said Governor Bill Richardson.
Governor Richardson in a letter to NIH Director Francis Collins urges the Institute to permanently retire all of the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees, return the 15 chimpanzees that have already been sent to Texas and convert the Facility into a sanctuary.
“The small community of Alamogordo stands to lose 42 jobs and millions of federal dollars associated with the care of these chimpanzees should they be moved to Texas,” said Governor Bill Richardson. “There is a compassionate and prudent alternative to the National Center for Research Resources’ plan and I feel strongly that we must save the chimpanzees.”
The chimps have been housed at the Alamogordo Primate Facility since 2001 and according to the agreement with Holloman; no research may be conducted on the chimpanzees while at the Facility. Charles River Laboratories, which operates the Alamogordo Primate Facility, is contracted with the National Institutes of Health until May 2011. The National Health Institute has announced plans to move all of the chimpanzees to Texas where they will be used for invasive medical research by early 2011. In recent weeks 15 of the 202 chimpanzees have been moved to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas.
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Link to the Animal Protection of New Mexico Facebook page, if you want to follow the developments there, is:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Albuquerque-NM/Animal-Protection-of-New-Mexico/126438193209