Who’s There? Who’s living behind the concrete and steel bars? What are the names, lab ID numbers, ages, genders, and other identifying information of all the chimpanzees held today in U.S. labs?

April 8, 2012 • Posted in Fact Sheets and More

Project R&R cares deeply about chimpanzees still kept in research labs and refuses to allow any of them to remain anonymous and behind bars. Each of the chimpanzees housed by federally owned or supported labs has an identity and unique story that deserves to be told. 

Several times each year, Project R&R sends Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and state open records requests to the main research facilities holding federally owned or supported chimpanzees, urging them to disclose the names and other requested information for all the chimpanzees housed at their facility. Some labs refuse to answer our requests because they are considered private facilities and therefore not subject to federal disclosure laws. In contrast, others provide us with updated information on their residents.

The remaining chimpanzees held in U.S. labs are in five facilities.

  • The Alamogordo Primate Facility (NM) is a holding facility for NIH-owned chimpanzees.
  • Three facilities—New Iberia Research Center (LA), Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research (TX), and Southwest National Primate Research Center (TX)—hold both private and government-owned chimpanzees.
  • Yerkes National Primate Research Center (GA) holds only privately-owned chimpanzees

To see the names and ages of the chimpanzees held in each facility, please click on the “Who’s There” links below.

Preparing a current and accurate census of chimpanzees in U.S. research facilities takes the work of every one of us. If you have additional information on any of these laboratories, please contact us. To learn more about the difficulty of obtaining information on chimpanzees kept in laboratories and the conditions in which they live and are used, see our Myth of Humane Treatment page.

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