Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
This is what greeted me when I arrived at the chimp house this morning:
For at least ten minutes, her concentration was so acute that she couldn’t be distracted. Jamie is so busy these days that it’s almost impossible to imagine how she occupied her time during her decades in laboratories with nothing to play with or explore. What a different world this must be for her!
So far the NIH has not budged on their plans to transfer 202 chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.
The chimpanzees have gotten some celebrity support recently, though – Gene Hackman wrote a letter to the head of NIH asking to halt this transfer. Check out this excerpt from his letter (it gave me chills in a good way):
“As you know, efforts to save the Alamogordo chimpanzee have drawn support from Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Tom Udall, and many other people around the state and across the country. I join them in urging you to fulfill the National Institutes of Health’s goal to ‘exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science’ by allowing these chimpanzees to live out their lives in the safety of a sanctuary.”
Read the full letter here: http://pcrm.org/resch/alamogordo/hackman.html
If you haven’t already, please contact the government about this issue. Your tax money is funding the laboratory housing and future experimentation on these chimpanzees.
Find out more ways you can help by following this blog for updates, as well as:
Animal Protection of New Mexico
Great news! Today we installed the last of the cageless playroom windows.
Here is a before shot of the garden side of the playroom:
And here is the after shot, with four caged windows replaced with chimp-proof glass:
Here is a before shot of the wall facing the chimpanzees’ outdoor area (these are the windows you’ll see in the video below, from the other side):
And here is the after shot, with three upstairs and one downstairs window replaced with chimp-proof glass:
This video was taken yesterday when the chimps were first given access to the outdoor area after the installation of the two upper left picture windows. The upper right window wasn’t quite finished, but it was the first time the chimps could sit in that windowsill because it was previously covered by a large polycarbonate panel on the outdoor area side. Everyone was visibly excited about the new additions and spent the remainder of the afternoon climbing in and out (and in and out) of the new windowsills.
To everyone who has given funds, time and energy, or kind words: We can’t thank you enough. You have given the chimps a brighter view!
Grooming, generally a very calm activity, is a really important part of chimpanzee culture. It establishes and strengthens friendships and alliances. Chimps part the hair and pick out any debris or dead skin. They also will groom scabs off of themselves and each other.
Left to right: Missy grooms Burrito’s head. Burrito grooms Foxie’s back. Foxie grooms Burrito’s arm.
Annie (right) grooms Missy’s face. Chimpanzees often use their lips as well as their fingers to groom themselves and others.
Jody (left) and Missy (right) groom Jamie (center, wearing scarf of trolls). This photo was taken shortly after Jamie had been ill for a few days and had been separated briefly from the group (though they could all still see each other). Grooming is very common when chimpanzees are reunited after even a short separation.
If you haven’t already, please call and write Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius today and urge her to halt the transfer of 202 chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in Texas.
You can send an electronic letter through the Humane Society of the United States and you can call the office of Health and Human Services at these numbers: 301-435-0888 or 202-205-5445 or 877-696-6775 (option #6 on the 877 number may put you in touch with a live person).
These chimpanzees should be allowed to permanently retire, not be subjected to more research. Retiring the chimpanzees is not only the ethical thing to do, it will also save taxpayer money, something we all have a right to speak out about. Currently, the chimpanzees are being warehoused at APF and have not been used in research for at least nine years.
Read our July 16th blog post about this issue for more information and read New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s press release supporting halting the transfer of the APF chimpanzees.
Also, please see the statement from Save the Chimps released two days ago. It includes a link to a pdf which summarizes the history of chimpanzees in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The announcement about the plan to transfer the chimpanzees was made well after the decision had been made. We must speak up now and keep the pressure on for the sake of the 202 individuals and their future.
Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, just posted a blog entry about the 202 chimpanzees who are slated to be moved from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR).
Wayne expresses it well, “…the time is past for subjecting chimps to painful and unnecessary research, and much of the world is ahead of us in recognizing this fact.”
Hopefully, all of you emailed Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius after reading our blog post yesterday.
Now there’s something else you can do – call the Health and Human Services switchboard at 877-696-6775 and ask them to halt the transfer of these 202 chimpanzees and permanently retire them from research.
(When I called this number a moment ago, I got a series of menu options. I chose to leave a message for the Secretary of Health and Human Services at 202-205-5445. Perhaps during business hours there are humans who answer the phones. Let us know how your phone calls go.)
The chimpanzees cannot speak for themselves. Please speak on their behalf.
Please see our July 16th post, Chimpanzees to be moved for research, for the background information on this story.
Fifteen chimpanzees have already been moved from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in Texas, but we cannot give up. The chimpanzees need us to speak out for them.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has issued a press release asking the NIH to permanently retire all of the APF chimpanzees, return the 15 chimpanzees that have already been sent to Texas and convert the Facility into a sanctuary.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has made it easy for everyone to contact the NIH about this urgent issue. Please see the HSUS action alert, take action and share with your friends today.
You can keep updated on the campaign to retire the APF chimpanzees by following Animal Protection of New Mexico on their website and their Facebook page.
