Help us blanket the Elders in warmth and comfort this holiday season. Your monetary donation will help us purchase and send fleece blankets for night nests to the three labs holding the Elder chimpanzees as well as to sanctuaries with other chimpanzees.

Night nests are a source of comfort and daily ritual for chimpanzees in the wild. Project R&R is committed to making sure that chimpanzees in captivity are provided with the nesting materials they need and love, including blankets (always a favorite), shredded paper, and natural materials like straw and soft branches.

Thank you to our members who have already supported this important project. If you are thinking about helping, below are some frequently asked questions about our blanket and enrichment drives.

[Jaybee at Save the Chimps and Donna Rae at Fauna]

Q: Can we send our clean used blankets to you to send to the labs, sanctuaries and facilities that house chimpanzees?
A: Though we very much appreciate this, used blankets are not collected or encouraged for this use. Blankets have to be a certain weight, knit, and size, as well as have no embellishments nor be easily shredded etc. to ensure a chimpanzee’s safety. There are also health and other husbandry considerations in our choice of fabric. We have made arrangements with one of the top fleece producers in the U.S. to supply us with the perfect materials at a discounted cost. Once cut, these fresh new blankets are then sealed and secured for shipping, which is vitally important to ensure integrity of the contents. They are exceptionally warm for their weight, easily washed and dried, and in general have strong advantages over other materials for this use.

Q: Can I purchase new fleece blankets and send them to your organization to be forwarded to the labs, sanctuaries, and facilities?
A: As noted above, we are working with a local fleece retailer who provides us with top quality material at wholesale cost. Since it is local, there are no shipping costs. If you buy and ship to us you are adding unnecessary shipping expenses to your donation. Your direct monetary donation to this campaign is the most efficient way to help – and our system ensures every dollar counts!

Q: My child would like to have a blanket drive to help the chimpanzees. Any suggestions?
A: As in our other answers, sending actual blankets is not encouraged. Rather, if your child wants to sponsor a typical school or community fund raiser like a bake sale, car wash, etc, this is most welcomed. Proceeds sent to our campaign will assure that your child feels like a part of this special project. We make a T-shirt and pin available free to wear for their “event.” Finally, when a donation comes from a child’s fund raising project, we send them a special thank you photo of a beloved sanctuary chimpanzee enjoying the comfort of his or her blankets.

Q: How do we know the laboratories will accept the blankets?
A: Though we cannot guarantee they will accept or distribute them to the chimpanzees, we do try to make that as likely as possible. We give them specific information on security precautions we took in preparing and packing the blankets and send a letter in advance informing them of the pending shipment with specific details about the blankets. But, if all that fails, every secured box of blankets we send includes mailing labels of chimpanzee sanctuaries so that they can forward them on if they choose to not benefit their own chimpanzees with the gift. We monitor their responses.

Q: When do you ship the blankets?
A: Blankets go out the middle of December. Your donation goes to our blankets and also to other enrichment drives that happen throughout the year. Please check our website often for the latest news on these drives including for example Spring baskets, special treat enrichment cups, toys and other items to help make the chimpanzees’ lives a little better.

For more information, please email Project R&R at releasechimps@neavs.org

Thank you!

A lawsuit aimed at improving USDA animal care guidelines for primates in zoos and research labs took a step forward on Wednesday when a federal appeals court overruled a lower court’s dismissal of the case. The lawsuit is aimed at getting the USDA to finalize draft guidelines prepared by its own staff in 1999 to improve current minimum standards of care for nonhuman primates. Current regulations – in effect since 1991 – are considered inadequate and ineffective by most primate experts.

For more information:
Learn more about the USDA’s failure to improve primate care regulations.

Seven chimpanzees were safely transferred to a Louisiana facility on Friday from Primarily Primates, Inc. (PPI) a Texas sanctuary seized by the Texas attorney general and under investigation for alleged neglect and mistreatment of animals and misappropriation of charitable funds.

Nine chimpanzees were originally sent to PPI in the spring of 2006 by Ohio State University (OSU) after the closure of its primate cognition research program. One chimpanzee died at PPI upon arrival and another died in April.

After a ten-hour journey from Texas to Louisiana, the remaining OSU chimpanzees — Sarah, Keeli, Ivy, Sheba, Darrell, Harper and Emma — arrived at Chimp Haven, Inc. Sixty-seven other chimpanzees remain at PPI — including chimpanzees from research facilities including the Buckshire Corporation and the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), as well as chimpanzees once used in the movie Project X, a film about the use of chimpanzees in research — along with other primates and animals.

For more information:

Primarily problems at haven for primates (MySanAntonio.com)

OSU chimps moved to Louisiana ‘haven’ - PETA helps send animals away from troubled facility (Columbus Dispatch)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been placed on probation by the international accreditation group, the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care-International, for serious problems in caring for animals, including one chimpanzee who underwent 10 liver needle biopsy attempts by a researcher (more than three is considered too many by the CDC.) Read more. (original article from The Oxford Press)

TAKE ACTION (PETA action alert): Demand CDC director’s resgination

Friends and members tune in to Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History

From L.D., Long Island, NY

“I have to say it brought me to tears. These animals are no different than us. When I saw Billy wipe his mouth while carefully licking his ice cream cone I found it unbelievable that humans can ever justify eating animals or using them in any way.”

From G.M., San Antonio,TX

I don’t even know how to begin to explain to you the reaction I got from viewing the documentary with the writer’s group of journalists. Suffice it to say, we were completely emotionally overwhelmed with the topic and most all of us needed private time to compose ourselves. We’re supposed to be professionals and yet, here we were, completely devastated. Even the men! The group remained silent except for the sounds of humanity grieving insularly yet collectively.

I found myself reaching out to others in the group and comforting them which was fine, because I was at a complete loss as to what I might wish to ask of Dr. Capaldo and Mrs. Grow. It was a time of deep introspection and not a time for inquiry! Who would have thought this? During the screening, we were all seated at a very large, oversized conference table and all eyes were fixed on the television screen. Not one person shuffled a paper, reached for their refreshments, got up to take a call/assignment or even excused themselves for the restroom. Which is very unlikely, because we are usually a most restless group! Up/down; up/down; constantly in and out…Not last night.

I had a brief momentary scare at the outset of the documentary when they show the lab workers strapping the chimp to the gurney, hand by hand, leg by leg. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to view more because I was physically so sickened and didn’t think I would be able to withstand the pain of observation. How ironic, isn’t it? That it can be so painful to watch and yet, let’s put ourselves for just one moment into how it must have felt for the chimps. Everyone had the same reaction of relief, when the documentary provided respite in moving on instead of staying painfully fixated on the bound chimp.

Another such moment was when they show the chimps in space and the time acceleration of their anxiety-induced state! The closing views of Tom in the tree at Fauna had us all screaming with delight and pounding our hands on the table or pumping our arms high over our heads with pure unadulterated joy! INCREDIBLE JOY!

It was especially difficult and moving for me personally (I cry now as I write this) to watch Gloria run along the outside of the enclosure urging Tom on. I could hear and feel the emotion in her voice and the cries quelling up in her. I will never forget Gloria in this triumphant, most “G-L-O-R-I-A-S” scene!!! (spelling intentional)

I could feel the long hours she has worked. I could sense her huge, open and loving heart with trying to urge and involve previous chimp owners to reacquaint themselves. It was so, so sad (yet extremely effective) to see Mr. Heath walk away and the camera focusing on the chimp obviously feeling a sense of abandonment all over again.

We all came away with a huge sense of dread regarding Lemsip and Coulston. We each only had to think that right here in San Antonio, we still have the Southwest Research Laboratory!

Other highlights are seeing the chimps enjoy the food so much, the purses with necklaces for sensory stimulation, and of course, all the work and progress in Florida and New Mexico.

Every time I think about Gloria running alongside the enclosure urging Tom on, I think of how her heart must have been bursting with such a huge mix of feelings, of joy and of relief and it makes me feel like my heart will burst also. The leaves of the tree blowing in the wind made such a visual and tangible impact of what that freedom must have felt like for Tom. It’s as if every single leaf were a banner waving in the wind, freedom at last, victory at last…so many years of hard work, such huge sacrifices of both chimp and human and then a single moment in time, captured on film, for the whole world to see and feel and witness - and be changed by, forever more.

Project R&R is happy to report that PBS NATURE captured a strong audience last night, Sunday, with the premiere of Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History, giving chimpanzees the much needed and deserved spotlight. “Considering what the documentary was up against in Sunday night programming, it did extremely well, especially in New York” said Allison Argo, the award-winning filmmaker who wrote and directed the documentary.

The documentary features footage from the Fauna Foundation, Save the Chimps, and the Center for Great Apes. Viewers in the U.S and Canada got a first-hand glimpse at the lives of former chimpanzees from U.S. research who are now living in sanctuaries.

Project R&R spoke with Ms. Argo the morning after the premiere on how she felt when she saw the film air on national television. “As I was watching, I kept pinching myself saying, ‘I can’t believe it’s on PBS.’ It took tremendous nerve and conviction to air this program. PBS deserves a round of applause.” She continued on to say that she dreams about the chimpanzees, and she won’t be walking away from them or the issue anytime soon. “The film is done, but they will forever be a part of my being. I hope that the film has a very large afterlife to continue to provide education and foster discussion, and most importantly that the sanctuaries and chimpanzees benefit directly.”

Dr. Theodora Capaldo, president of NEAVS and executive director of Project R&R gave her accolades as well “We are deeply grateful for the breadth of this documentary. It could not have been done without the hard work and participation of Allison, Dr. Carole Noon, Patti Ragan, Gloria Grow and most of all the true stars of the film: Ron, Thoto, Tody, Billy Jo and Tom. The feedback from friends and supporters after the program confirms again what is important to the public and strengthens our conviction: it’s time to do right by our next of kin.”

To read a post-show interview with Gloria Grow from the Fauna Foundation click here.

More information
Project R&R Mission
How you can help

Offsite links to visit
Fauna Foundation
Save the Chimps
Center for Great Apes
Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History preview
More information on the film from NATURE
Behind the scenes with director Allison Argo

Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History is reviewed by Variety. Read more.

More information about the film
Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History preview
More information on the film from NATURE
Behind the scenes with director Allison Argo

Linda Stasi of the New York Post gives an excellent review of the film Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History. Read more. (New York Post)

More information about the film
Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History preview
More information on the film from NATURE
Behind the scenes with director Allison Argo

Television to Take Unprecedented Look at Chimpanzees Rescued from Labs

Chimpanzees will take center stage at 8pm Sunday night, November 5th, as PBS launches its upcoming 25th season of NATURE. Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Allison Argo, features footage from the Fauna Foundation, Save the Chimps, and the Center for Great Apes, giving millions of Americans a first-hand glimpse at the lives of former U.S. research chimpanzees now living in sanctuaries. Gloria Grow, founder and director of Fauna, and honorary chair of Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories, was delighted by the response from members of the press at a recent Los Angeles screening at the Television Critics Association. “It is an honor that NATURE chose this film to premier its 25th season,” said Ms. Grow. “The chimpanzees are the stars of this film that poignantly tells their stories.”

The documentary is being hailed by Project R&R and its growing coalition. Project R&R is a national campaign of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) that works to end chimpanzee research in the US and release the approximately 1,200 chimpanzees who are in U.S. laboratories. NEAVS’ expertise was made available throughout the making of the film. Project R&R advisory board members include world-renowned chimpanzee experts such as Jane Goodall, PhD; Roger Fouts, PhD; Gloria Grow; Carole Noon, PhD; and others. Project R&R is currently focusing on the release of the 21 oldest chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories — those born on or before 1960. Inquiries revealed that some of the oldest chimpanzees have recently died, fueling an urgency to get the remaining elders into sanctuary before it is too late.

“Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History courageously shows the realities of captivity and challenges our responsibility to these great apes who are so like us,” says Theodora Capaldo, EdD, president of NEAVS, and director of Project R&R. “The film promises to enlighten and educate the public. It guarantees to inspire serious dialogue and change for our next of kin. It is time.”

More information
Project R&R Mission
How you can help

Offsite links to visit
Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History preview
More information on the film from NATURE
Behind the scenes with director Allison Argo