NEAVS president Theodora Capaldo, EdD, recently presented at the 33rd meeting of the American Society of Primatologists (ASP) in Louisville, Kentucky, on a panel hosted by the Humane Society of the United States, also featuring Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. The panel, Great Ape Research and Retirement: Policy, Ethics, Economics and Science, was the first time ASP accepted a submission for such a panel dealing with the use and housing of chimpanzees in research and efforts to end their use and retire all chimpanzees to sanctuary.

Dr. Capaldo gave two presentations on the panel: Ethical and Humane Considerations in the Housing and Maintenance of Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories and the panel’s conclusion, Economic Considerations in the Housing and Maintenance of Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories and Sanctuaries. The audience – the majority of whom are involved in primate research – responded with questions regarding the appropriateness of the chimpanzee model for research into human health and the challenges of retiring some 1,000 chimpanzees into sanctuary.

They expressed concerns regarding sanctuaries’ ability to meet Animal Welfare Act (AWA) standards and provide proper veterinary care. With concrete examples of how many sanctuaries (Save the Chimps, Fauna Foundation, and Center for Great Apes were referenced) exceed AWA standards, and evidence of the level and breadth of expert veterinary care at those facilities, opponents were left to seriously ponder the validity of their arguments against retirement. Dr. Capaldo extended an invitation to opponents to “visit sanctuaries with us, and see for yourself.”

Fauna Foundation, our partner in Project R&R, is eager to help us bring Fauna, an exemplary model of animal care, to the awareness of those who do not see how bleak laboratory life is, or who judge sanctuaries on the basis of those who have less than acceptable standards, including roadside zoos, private collectors, and others who have become savvy in calling themselves sanctuaries when they are anything but.

Bringing lab workers who care about animals and researchers who have worked in institutions for decades to “the light” of the benefits and beauty that even life in captivity can hold for chimpanzees and others from research would be a major step in changing hearts and minds. For many, once they see how it could and should be for animals in captivity, they go back to their work and question more and more the practices of the institutions in which they have become numbed and institutionalized.

Our invitation, transparency, and willingness “to show and tell” speaks volumes about our certainty that sanctuary can provide superior care and a life worth living for the thousand chimpanzees senselessly languishing behind laboratory walls.

Our time in Kentucky allowed us an opportunity, along with other sanctuary leaders and animal groups, to visit the Primate Rescue Center (PRC). We visited all the primates and committed staff and saw for the first time the expansive outdoor enclosure (pictured above) NEAVS helped fund for the LEMSIP chimpanzees who were retired there in 1997. Though youngsters when they arrived, they are now strong and healthy adults who had definitely outgrown – not just in size but as importantly in strength – their original digs. A special thank you to April Truitt, PRC Founder and Director, for her hospitality.