One day He was taken out of his family and was transferred to a medical torture centre called LEMSIP (Primates Experimental Surgery and Medicine Laboratory). He was out in a steel cage, all by himself, got anesthetics and his liver used to have biopsies frequently, so the drugs injected in him would be monitored and results could be caught.

Years after this suffering process, He was transferred to other torture centre even worse: Coulston Foundation, in New Mexico. In the truck trip from New York to New Mexico, he broke the cage and for the first time enjoyed an area bigger than two cubic meters, inside the truck. At Coulston Foundation he was used as a reproductive male, but they had no success. In the next 15 years, Juan was used in five different medical (torture) research projects. Desperated, he used to mutilate himself, pulling out his hair and pieces of his skin.

On September 16, 2002, Dr. Carole Noon entered Coulston Foundation, which broke, and her organization bought the foundation with all the primates (more than 200 individuals). She could not hold herself when she saw Juan in a very dirty cage, all hurt, with parts of his leg raw due to surgeries, and started to cry. Quickly he was removed from the dungeon where he lived and was given blankets, toys and decent food. In spite of these changes, Juan was suspecting of humans yet and it took some time for him to forget and separate his current keepers from the people of his past.

On June 30, 2008, Juan was transferred for his latest home, a definitive one, at Save the Chimps Sanctuary, in Fort Piece, Florida. He loved the place, the island he live with his group, the sun from Florida. These made him forget the terrifying years he suffered. In his group, his most closed friends were females Jaybee and Lupe, with whom he spent most of the time in the opened areas.

In the end of June, the lower part his body became paralyzed. He had been removed to a cage to be closely accompanied. An exam found a cancer in his backbone. In his case, the disease could not be cured. On July 2 he was taken to his island for the last visit to his companions. Euthanasia was the only way to avoid him to suffer. He got out of his beloved island, exposed his body to the sun and slowly delivered his soul to God.

Juan is one more martyr in this hard fight against human incomprehension of these extraordinary beings who deserve more lucky in this so called human world.

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian
President, GAP Project International