Federal Agency Plans to Return 202 Chimpanzees to Research
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Urge the government to provide sanctuary instead of research

Chimpanzees living at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) on Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico are slated to go to any federal facility that wants to use them for research, according to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), which oversees primate research.

The Air Force divested itself of its chimpanzee colony in 2000. Some of its chimpanzees were sent to research facilities, others to sanctuaries, but 202 remained when Charles River Laboratories took over the APF facility under a federal contract. The contract, which expires in 2011, includes a provision that Charles River not use the animals for invasive research. The federal government pays for their maintenance—or has up until this year.

This month the NCRR announced that it is planning to make these 202 chimpanzees available for invasive research when the contract expires in 2011.

According to Dr. Barbara Alving at the NCRR, “The animals must be moved to another facility to participate in research.” NCRR has already advertised the availability of these animals on their website, stating that they have authority to remove animals from the APF to other accredited chimpanzee facilities for research purposes.

While the government cites the high cost of providing for the chimpanzees under the contract with Charles River Laboratories, there are other options available, including placing the animals in a permanent sanctuary, such as Chimp Haven (which was established in 2000 for just this purpose) or other primate sanctuaries. While there is a cost involved in retiring these chimpanzees, it is less than the government is currently paying on the contract and would be a more humane and cost effective solution for animals who have already spent years in research laboratories.

Please contact National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins and ask him to reconsider this decision to force 202 chimpanzees back into invasive research.