Member News
World’s Largest Chimpanzee Sanctuary Closer to San Antonio Than You Think
Just across the border into Louisiana, about a six-hour drive from the Alamo City, and you’ll find Chimp Haven in the town of Keithville. At 200 acres, it claims the title as biggest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world.
Opinion: How We Treat Old Chimpanzees — and What That Says About Us
The National Institutes of Health announced that it will be breaking its promise to move 44 chimpanzees currently being held in a biomedical facility in New Mexico to Chimp Haven, a sanctuary in Louisiana. Francis Collins, the head of NIH, said a review panel had determined that these chimpanzees are either too old or too sick to relocate safely. This is bad news for the chimpanzees. It also reflects a troubling reality about all research on nonhuman subjects.
Some Lab Chimps May Never Retire to a Sanctuary
In 2015, the National Institutes of Health decided to retire all the chimpanzees it owned. Since then, animal welfare groups have been pushing for quicker action, even as some of the facilities that once conducted experiments have urged caution, arguing that some chimps are too old and sick to be moved. In October 2019, the NIH announced that an independent panel of veterinarians had determined that the 44 chimpanzees remaining at the Alamogordo Primate Facility, or APF, in New Mexico were too ill to move, as the facility had contended. Rana Smith, president of Chimp Haven, expressed disappointment at the decision. “We respect the medical opinions of the veterinary panel,” she wrote in an email. However, she said, “we firmly believe that sanctuary life is the best place for chimpanzees.”
NIH: Aging Chimps to Stay in NM
The National Institutes of Health said 44 aging chimpanzees are too fragile to be moved from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to a sanctuary in Louisiana. Instead, they will spend the rest of their lives at the facility in southeastern New Mexico, the NIH announced Thursday.
Some of NIH’s Chimpanzees Will Not Retire to a Sanctuary as Planned
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) will not be retiring all of its chimpanzees to Chimp Haven, as it originally pledged to do. Nearly four dozen chimps at a biomedical primate facility in New Mexico will remain there because they are too old and sick to move, he said, although scientific studies of them have ended.
Chimp Haven Reaches Milestone with Expansion Project
Chimp Haven has reached a milestone as it makes room for former research chimpanzees still awaiting sanctuary retirement.
Chimp Haven Continues to Expand
Chimp Haven has reached an exciting milestone as it makes room for former research chimpanzees still awaiting sanctuary retirement.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Hoping to Expand and Provide Homes for More Animals
Approximately 435 chimps are still stuck in labs with nowhere else to go. The only viable option is a sanctuary. Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is one of only six facilities in the country with full accreditation to house the chimps with adequate food, space and medical care. Right now they have an amazing group known as the Cle Elum 7: Foxy, Jamie, Annie, Negra, Jody, Missy and Burrito. CSNW invited KIRO in to show them how resilient these chimps are, and they spoke about their plans to expand in a big, bold way.
Lab Monkeys Get Second Chance at Life, Thanks to Florida Woman
Kari Bagnall’s Gainesville home has grown into a monkey paradise. The property has primates of all sorts, including marmosets, tamarins and capuchins. Kari’s a mom of sorts to hundreds of rescued primates. Over half the monkeys at her Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary were brought in from research labs. They were involved in everything from nicotine and cocaine studies to research on vocal cords and cognitive functions.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Cle Elum Gives Chimps a Second Chance at Life
Seven chimps at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest spend most of their free time swinging around, playing with dolls, and going on long walks. “They are able to come to a sanctuary and get to experience things they have never experienced before,” said Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Co-Director Diana Goodrich. Click the link for video and more!
Project Chimps: Protecting our Primate Pals Who Once Lived in a Lab
In 2015, the government decided to stop testing on all chimpanzees. But where did those animals go? One location is less than two hours from Chattanooga in Fannin County, Georgia. The chimps used to live in a lab. Now, they live in the quiet Blue Ridge Mountains on 6 acres of land.