A better life and some old friends greeted New Mexico chimps removed from lab in Texas

After 30 plus years and more than 500 painful, invasive medical procedures, 19 New Mexico chimpanzees confined to a Texas research facility can finally live a better life at Chimp Haven, a sanctuary in Keithville, La.

Animal Protection of New Mexico, along with several partners, including former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, fought for more than 20 years to rescue the chimps and make their freedom a reality. The journey to sanctuary began in April, weeks after New Mexico Community Foundation’s Chimpanzee Sanctuary Fund awarded Chimp Haven $85,500 in grant funding. The cost of caring for a chimpanzee in sanctuary can be more than $15,000 a year.

“When the National Institutes of Health agreed to retire all remaining chimpanzees held in research labs, we were so grateful they chose to do the right thing,” Laura Bonar, chief program and policy officer for APNM and leader of the organization’s chimpanzee program, said. “We began working immediately to get these 19 chimps out of the lab where they have known so much suffering, and into the natural surroundings of sanctuary.”

Of the 19 chimpanzees, Elijah, Opal, Rosie, Cammy and Theo became the face of APNM’s movement to protect chimpanzees. From the time they were babies, they chimps endured biopsies and blood tests, and were exposed to diseases like hepatitis and HIV. Now they finally have a chance at peace and dignity as they start their new lives at Chimp Haven, a 200-acre sanctuary on the outskirts of Shreveport, La.

“At Chimp Haven, many of them will have the opportunity to enjoy spacious, multi-acre habitats and other large enclosures, climb trees and live in large and complex social groups,”Cathy Spraetz, president and CEO of Chimp Haven, said.

APNM partnered with countless concerned New Mexicans to help end testing on chimps and work toward their retirement to sanctuary. Richardson not only spoke up for these chimpanzees during his time in office, but also continues to fight for the humane treatment of all chimpanzees through The Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

“The Richardson Center for Global Engagement has always been passionate about ‘retiring’ these chimps in sanctuaries, both in the United States and in Africa,” Richardson, the Center’s founder, said. “I am pleased to see former New Mexican lab chimps, like Cammy, Opal and Rosie, acclimating so well to their new home in Chimp Haven.”

APNM’s work for chimpanzees began in the 1990s, but significant headway was made six years ago, when Richardson lead a coalition that included APNM, the Humane Society of the United States, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and 25,000 concerned citizens to fight to protect nearly 200 chimpanzees held in a facility at Alamogordo.

“The coalition made the difference,” Richardson said. Bonar couldn’t agree more.

“Working together is key,” she said. “These 19 are now in sanctuary, and their rehabilitation will just get sweeter over time. It’s beautiful to watch them live without the stress of the constant threat of testing, and realize that, for the first time in their lives, they can just be chimps.”

Bonar and her staff at APNM pause only for a moment to savor this victory, before shifting focus to the estimated 140 chimpanzees still housed in a research facility in Alamogordo. The Chimpanzee Sanctuary Fund currently has nearly $400,000 to award, and the need is urgent, as some of these chimps are sick and elderly, she said.

“We want to move them before they pass away in a lab setting,” Bonar explained. “Even one moment in sanctuary is better than none. New Mexicans have worked tirelessly to get Rosie, Opal, Theo and the others to sanctuary. We have 19 reasons to celebrate, but 140 reasons to work harder and keep pushing forward.”

To stay updated on the chimpanzees’ progress, or to give the gift of sanctuary to a chimpanzee still in a research facility, visit chimpstosanctuary.org.

Source: http://www.ruidosonews.com/story/news/local/2016/08/16/lab-chimps-retire-louisiana-sanctuary/88566058/