Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Alamogordo Chimps Update

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New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is a hero for chimpanzees. Two days ago he filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate the transfer of the remaining 186 chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF). Since then he has been busy with press conferences and interviews with the media about this complaint, which is supported by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and Animal Protection of New Mexico.

The complaint asks the USDA to investigate whether transferring the chimpanzees from APF to a biomedical research laboratory in Texas violates the Animal Welfare Act, which prohibits the transportation of ill, injured or physically distressed primates. Many of the chimpanzees, such as Flo (53 years old), are elderly and suffer from chronic diseases as a result of their age and their history as biomedical research subjects.

Thanks to Freedom of Information requests from PCRM, we now know that Foxie’s mother, Winny, is among the chimpanzees living at APF who faces transfer to Texas. Winny’s birthdate is listed as 1/1/1962. She is almost 49 years old.

Foxie’s son David, Negra’s daughter, Heidi, and Jody’s daughter April also face transfer. Jody’s son Levi has already been moved.

(For the complaint that PCRM filed in September that includes information on the chimpanzees at APF, click here).

For how to help, visit RetireTheChimps.org

Call the NIH today to help the APF chimpanzees

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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.