May 3, 2006 • Posted in Letter to the Editor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 04/20/06—Project R&R’s response: Theo Capaldo, EdD, President
To the Editor:
We appreciate coverage of Project R&R’s In Their Own Words national launch in Atlanta (“Yerkes focus of chimp ‘awareness campaign’” April 20th), but clarification is needed: Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Labs focuses on the plight of approximately 1,200 chimpanzees at six U.S. research facilities. Yerkes is only one.
The campaign presents the ramifications of chimpanzee research by combining scientific debate about its disappointments and dangers with eyewitness testimony from laboratory and sanctuary caregivers.
Our educational event was open to the public, yet an absent Dr. Zola of Yerkes decreed our mission “inhumane.” We challenge anyone to explain how giving chimpanzees in laboratories a voice is anything other than humane.
We invite Atlanta to visit releasechimps.org and see why 1,200 individuals, including Wenka, a 52-year-old chimpanzee at Yerkes who has likely lived her entire life behind bars, deserve the dignity and protection of sanctuary.
Theodora Capaldo, EdD
President
Project R&R/NEAVS