Pictured below* are some of the many Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) chimpanzees who are scheduled to be transferred to the Southwest National Primate Research Center for use in invasive research.

Flo, Danny, Montessa, Heidi, Nicole, and Robbie have spent their lives in a laboratory and Flo is one of the oldest chimpanzees still held for research; she turns 53 on September 29.

These six chimpanzees, along with 180 others currently housed at APF, deserve a life of safety and comfort in sanctuary. Please take action NOW by adding your voice to the outcry for their permanent retirement and for turning Alamogordo into a model sanctuary of chimpanzee care. In honor of Flo’s birthday, make your gift to her a call, email, or letter today!

Flo	Danny
Montessa	Heidi
Nicole	Robbie

* Pictures received on September 21, 2010 and obtained through a FOIA request.

Please contact:

Dr. Francis Collins, Director
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20892

francis.collins@nih.gov
301-496-2433

Ask him to reconsider NIH’s misguided decision to transfer the Alamogordo chimpanzees and to retire them instead. Remind him that chimpanzees deserve the safety and comforts of sanctuary and that U.S. taxpayers deserve better decision making on how our precious dollars are spent.

To help us track our progress please log your call to Dr. Collins’s Office.

If you are a constituent of New Mexico, please call your Senators/Representative

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 180 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. is virtually the last 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.

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

On September 8, 2010 a ban on the use of great apes in research in the European Union (EU) was made official under the newly adopted revisions for European Directive 86/609/EEC, the EU’s laboratory animal welfare laws. Under the new legislation, experiments on great apes are to be banned and

“only when survival of the species itself is at stake, or in the case of an unexpected outbreak of a life-threatening or debilitating disease in human beings, can a Member State exceptionally be granted permission for their use” (1).

Experiments on other nonhuman primates however will continue. Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Animal Welfare and Scotland’s senior European MP David Martin stated,

“…. What we must move towards are clear restrictions on the use of [all] non-human primates, a ban on the use of wild-caught animals, an unequivocal obligation to use non-animal alternative methods when scientifically available, and a ban on experiments which involve severe and prolonged suffering — today’s ruling fell woefully below this” (2).

The new Directive will not go into effect until January 2013, giving the EU member states two years to transpose the provisions of the new Directive into national legislation.

Sources

(1) “EU revises laws to better protect animals used in scientific experiments.” EUROPA, September 9, 2010.

(2) “New EU Animal Experiments rules: MEPs disappointed.” ADI, September 9, 2010.

Jarrod Bailey, PhD, NEAVS/Project R&R science director and author of several studies on the use of chimpanzees in human health research, was recently interviewed for Defining Person, a feature-length documentary film that explores the implications of the international movement to change the legal status of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans from property to person.

On July 21, 2010, the leaders of seven North American chimpanzee sanctuaries gathered in Bend, OR to create a new initiative, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA). Founded by the directors of The Center for Great Apes, Chimp Haven, Chimps, Inc., Chimp Sanctuary Northwest, Fauna Foundation, Primate Rescue Center, Inc., and Save the Chimps, Inc., the mission of NAPSA is:

“To advance the welfare of captive primates through exceptional sanctuary care, collaboration, and outreach.”

The launch of NAPSA is dedicated to the late Dr. Carole Noon, founder of Save the Chimps.

NAPSA is modeled in part after the Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA). Among its many goals are to unify and establish the integrity and quality of primate sanctuaries across North America; distinguish true sanctuaries from facilities that falsely claim to be sanctuaries; share resources and information that will help improve the quality of care provided to all captive non-human primates; develop a strategy for placement of unwanted primates as well as responses to urgent situations; communicate with one voice to the media and general public.

NAPSA was founded by a group of chimpanzee sanctuary directors, and will have an initial focus on chimpanzee issues. However, the challenges faced by chimpanzees in North America are shared by other species of non-human primates. As NAPSA grows, the organization intends to welcome the participation of primate sanctuaries caring for other ape and monkey species.

In the coming months, NAPSA will be working with the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries to develop standards for chimpanzee care in sanctuaries. A website, membership criteria, and other programs will also be forthcoming.

For more information, contact primatesanctuaries@gmail.com.