Release & Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories

Alamogordo Primate Facility

Who’s There?
Who are the chimpanzees at this facility?

Related News and Information:

APF Charged With Animal Cruelty - Sep’04

(owned by NIH and affiliated with Holloman Air Force Base, formerly the Coulston Foundation)

Approximate number of chimpanzees: 245

History & Profile

The Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF), “established” in 2001, is maintained on the site of Holloman Air Force Base where chimpanzees have been bred, housed, experimented on, and killed since at least 1954. It is the second largest chimpanzee laboratory facility in the U.S.

Beginning in the 1950s, the United States Air Force began maintaining a chimpanzee “colony” at Holloman Air Force Base to conduct aeronautical and space research. The initial population was composed of 65 young and infant chimpanzees captured from Africa. The facility was later leased to Frederick Coulston to conduct toxicology and other experiments on chimpanzees.

After the collapse of the Coulston Foundation (Coulston), the laboratory was renamed the Alamogordo Primate Facility and title of the chimpanzees was transferred to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At Coulston’s closing, 266 chimpanzees went to sanctuary at Save the Chimps, while the remaining 287 went to APF.

The APF chimpanzee facility is owned by NIH, a division of the Public Health Service (PHS). In 2001, NIH awarded Charles River Laboratories, Inc. (CRL), a $42.8 million, 10-year contract to manage APF. (1) CRL took over operations of APF from the Coulston Foundation.

Despite notorious Animal Welfare Act violations at Coulston, when CRL gained responsibility for the care of the NIH - “owned” chimpanzees, it retained many of the same employees – including veterinarians – who had been employed at Coulston during the time of its numerous USDA animal welfare violation charges. (2)

Under CRL’s care, “about 21 chimpanzees have died…over a two-year period either by natural causes or neglect by personnel,” according to 2004 court documents related to animal cruelty charges at APF (see sidebar for more information on animal cruelty charges at APF). (3) These deaths include those of three chimpanzees who died by electrocution due to unsafe conditions at APF in 2004. (4)

Charles River Labs, International

CRL has enjoyed unprecidented growth and profitability over the past five years. Annual sales revenue soared 100% to over $1 billion in 2006, compared to just over $500 million in 2002. The company’s profitability rose almost 100% as well… totalling $125 million in 2006 compared to $68 million five years ago.(5)

Total assets for the company weigh in at just under $2.6 billion at years end, (2006), a stunning 270% increase from the $700 million reported in 2002. The liquidation value of the company (shareholder’s equity) rose 350% during the same five year period from $357 million to a huge $1.6 billion today.(6)

The company spent lavishly on common stock purchases used as compensation (stock options) for their senior executives; in 2006 alone, the cost for this activity rose above $21 million!(7)

The common stock has enjoyed excellent performance during this period, rising 42.8% since 2002, in line with the S&P 500 benchmark. Seven times, in the past three years the company has reported earnings per share profit at higher levels than expected by Wall Street analysts. Gross margins, in the past year, rose to a lofty 43%, meaning that 43 cents out of each $1.00 of revenues was profit (before taxes, depreciation etc.). Return on assets for the company was 4.9% while the similar return on equity was 7.3%.(8)

For all this financial success, it is interesting to note that taxes paid in 2006 were less than $90 million. 11 wall street firms follow the stock, all of them rate the stock a “buy.”(9)

Chimpanzee Use

APF “provides for the long-term care and husbandry of chimpanzees [who] have been used in biomedical research.” (10) NIH states that “no active, invasive research is conducted” in this facility; chimpanzees must be “transferred to active chimpanzee research settings” to be used. (11)

According to the website of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) a division of NIH, ” [a]ll chimpanzees at the APF have been exposed to various microorganisms, such as the hepatitis C virus and HIV.” (12) For this reason, the chimpanzees are “candidates for studies related to these diseases.” (13) NCRR’s website also states that it “may remove infected chimpanzees from the APF to other accredited chimpanzee facilities for research purposes.” (14)