chimpanzee sanctuary
Argh!
In case you haven’t heard through all of the chimps’ Facebook status updates (yes, each chimp has their own FB page, which can be found through this link), thanks to volunteer Stephanie Perciful, the chimps had a pirate-themed party yesterday. What an awesome idea! Stephanie did an awesome job (as usual) collecting pirate-themed enrichment for the chimps, so the playroom was covered in buried treasures (e.g. gold beaded necklaces) and skulls and crossbones. Thanks, Steph!
Gene Hackman helping the Alamogordo Chimpanzees
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
Senator Cantwell introduces GAPA companion bill
If you receive our e-newsletter you found out some sad news this morning – at least four of the 202 chimpanzees living at the Alamogordo Primate Facility who are slated to be transferred to Texas and made available for biomedical testing are children of the Cle Elum Seven.
We were able to determine this thanks to Project Release and Restitution and the information they have available on their website.
Learn more about this transfer of 202 chimpanzees from our July 16th blog post and view today’s newsletter with details of whose children are among the group: August e-newsletter.
There is hope for these and all chimpanzees in biomedical research in the United States, however. Today, Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell introduced a companion bill to the Great Ape Protection Act, first introduced in the House of Representatives as HR 1326. Passing GAPA would mandate that federally-funded chimpanzees be retired to sanctuary and would outlaw the use of chimpanzees in painful and invasive biomedical research.
Learn more about GAPA and how you can help from the Seattle Times editorial co-written by Executive Director Sarah Baeckler and from the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine.
This is a crucial time for chimpanzees and we have the power to help them. Thanks to everyone who is speaking out for them.
Sweet Faces
Burrito:
Jody:
Jamie:
Negra:
Annie:
Missy:
Foxie (with a playface):
Grooming
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.
Keep the pressure on – help 202 chimpanzees
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.
