A large number of chimpanzees were used in medical research/laboratories in the United States from the 1930s until 2015, when the US FDA finally announced the end of the practice in the country. To give you an idea, in 2010 it was estimated that there were still 900 chimpanzees in laboratories.

Despite the great step taken, another great challenge was beginning. What to do with the surviving chimpanzees? The most sensible answer was to relocate them to sanctuaries, where they could live a more dignified life and try to recover from their traumas.

Since then, various organizations have dedicated themselves to carrying out these relocations, and several have already been successful. However, some still come up against bureaucratic, legal or political limitations, such as this case of 26 chimpanzees who are still trapped in the facilities of a laboratory in New Mexico.

The NGO Humane Society @humanesociety is one of the organizations active in these relocations and is denouncing the fact that the NIH (National Institute of Health) is refusing to transfer these chimpanzees to the Chimp Haven sanctuary, in Louisiana, even though it has already been ordered to do so by the courts.

Read below the NGO’s appeal for the Institute to simply comply with the law and allow the chimpanzees to go to the sanctuary:

They died awaiting freedom. Danny, Amanda, Ann, El Rey, Fonzie, Kareem, Kim, and Martin are a few names of the chimps who died at a biomedical research facility in New Mexico while the National Institutes of Health refused to move them to the Chimp Haven sanctuary, despite being required to by law. We sued. We won. And yet, more than a year later, after all the pain and suffering these chimps have been through, they still have not been moved. Please demand that the NIH follows the law and transfers the chimps as soon as possible!

The remaining 26 chimps were subjected to painful biomedical experiments for years. We owe them the chance to live out the rest of their lives in a sanctuary where they can explore large habitats, live and play in bonded social groups and control their own lives. Please, join us in demanding the NIH move the remaining chimpanzees to Chimp Haven before it is too late.