Public outrage continues over the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) plan to transfer an estimated 186 chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) in New Mexico to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas, moving them from a holding facility to a lab where they will be more readily available for invasive research.

Before living at APF, these individuals endured years of research or use as “breeders” to make babies to be sent into research. New Mexico citizens and supporters nationwide; animal protection groups; actor Gene Hackman, who has a home in New Mexico; and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson have all joined in urging the NIH to halt their transfer plans.

Recently, Governor Richardson met with officials at the NIH to urge them to keep the chimpanzees in New Mexico and to convert APF into a sanctuary. In his press release following this meeting, Governor Richardson stated, “While it appears they are holding steadfast to their position, I am holding steadfast to mine. I will continue pressing for a humane, long-term care solution for the care of these chimpanzees ….”

To date the NIH appears unmoved.

The Southwest lab has said that the newly arrived chimpanzees will be made available for biomedical research nationwide in hepatitis B and hepatitis C, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. Yet as NEAVS/Project R&R has shown through the research of our Science Director, Dr. Jarrod Bailey, the extensive past use of chimpanzees in these areas has contributed little or nothing of significance to human health, and has in many cases been a costly failure.

We thank Governor Richardson for advocating on behalf of the Alamogordo chimpanzees and urge the public to continue pressuring the NIH to retire the chimpanzees rather than subjecting them to further research.

For more information on efforts to end all chimpanzee research, including the recent introduction of a Senate version of the Great Ape Protection Act (S.3694) visit releasechimps.org.

To get involved in local efforts on behalf of the chimpanzees at APF, go to www.apnm.org/chimps.

Please contact:

Dr. Barbara Alving, Director, NCRR
barbara.alving@nih.gov
301-496-5793

National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room 3B11
31 Center Drive, MSC 2128
Bethesda, MD 20892

Ask her to reconsider NIH’s decision, and to instead retire the APF chimpanzees and keep them in New Mexico. Tell her politely that you as an American taxpayer do not agree with NIH’s chimpanzee “management” and instead urge them to give chimpanzees the safety and comforts of sanctuary that they so deserve. Remind her that it is a national shame that the U.S. is virtually the only nation to continue the practice of chimpanzee use and laboratory confinement and that it is within her power to change that. Thank her for her time and attention and ask her to please respond as this issue really matters to you.

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On July 1, 2010 at least 14 chimpanzees were moved from the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to the Southwest National Primate Research Center (Southwest) in Texas, where they will be available for use in invasive research. The federal government plans to move the rest of the 188 chimpanzees housed at APF to Southwest by early 2011.“This is an urgent situation … New Mexico wants to save these chimpanzees who have already given so much of their lives to the American public as part of medical research studies,” said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in a July 22 release.

According to the release, Gov. Richardson sent a letter to Dr. Francis Collins, Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH), asking the federal government to permanently retire the 202 chimpanzees, return the 14 chimpanzees who have already been sent to Texas, and convert APF into a sanctuary.

Since 2001, APF has served as a holding facility, run by Charles River Laboratories under a NIH contract, for these government-owned chimpanzees. No research was conducted on the premises of APF. The few individuals used in active research were sent out to other facilities. All records suggest this was a rare occurrence. Once the government moves them to Southwest, however, they will be more readily available for invasive research.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) in Washington says that several of the chimpanzees they rescued from the Buckshire Corporation in 2008 have children at APF. Foxie, Negra, and Jody — all now safely at CSNW — were formerly used for breeding and had their children taken away from them shortly after birth. While they themselves were eventually rescued and brought to sanctuary, their children remain in harm’s way. Foxie’s son David, Negra’s daughter Heidi, and Jody’s children Levi and April are all at APF. Sadly, NEAVS/Project R&R has learned that Levi is one of the 14 chimpanzees who have already been sent to Southwest.

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Stop the transfer of Alamogordo chimps

We’ve learned that the federal government plans to move more than 200 chimpanzees now living at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas. At APF the vast majority of chimpanzees were being warehoused. Once the Air Force’s program finished its gravity experiments and the infamous Coulston Foundation closed down, the government elected to maintain 288 chimpanzees at the Alamogordo facility. In the last 10 years, a miniscule number were sent into research at other facilities. Once at Southwest, the remaining chimpanzees will be readily available for invasive research.The government plans to move 14-15 chimpanzees this summer and the remainder in January 2011. Housing renovations are underway at Southwest funded by taxpayer dollars.

Please call your Senators/Representative on behalf of the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees who face a life sentence of laboratory confinement and use.

Here are some points to consider:

• Thank them for their leadership in New Mexico and for sharing the compassionate values of their constituents.
• Make them aware that the NIH’s National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) plans to move over 200 chimpanzees out of the Alamogordo Primate Facility to a lab in Texas to be available for research.
• Tell them you object because published studies have documented the enormous suffering chimpanzees endure in laboratory life and use. What’s more, the research of geneticist Dr. Jarrod Bailey and others have shown that the past 30 years of using chimpanzees to study AIDS, cancer, hepatitis C, and other diseases has failed to provide breakthroughs in prevention, treatment or cures for humans. The business of chimpanzee laboratory housing and use is a waste of tax dollars and time. NIH/NCRR must be held accountable.
• Remind them that the U.S. remains the last developed nation using chimpanzees in invasive research and that chimpanzees are a unique part of New Mexico history. New Mexico now has a chance to give these individuals peace and dignity while keeping jobs in the state.
• Ask them to please stand up for what’s right before it’s too late — keep the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees in New Mexico, help permanently retire them, and turn APF into a model sanctuary of chimpanzee care.

Who to contact:

NM Senators:
Sen. Jeff Bingaman: (202) 224-5521
Sen. Tom Udall: (202) 224-6621

NM Representatives:
Congressional District 1 (Northern New Mexico): Rep. Ben Ray Luján: (202) 225-6190
Congressional District 2 (Central New Mexico): Martin Heinrich: (202) 225-6316
Congressional District 3 (Southern New Mexico): Rep. Harry Teague: (202) 225-2365

For more information on efforts to end all chimpanzee research, visit releasechimps.org.