Lab chimps get new homes

Photo: The Canadian Press

Staff prepare a birthday party for Foxie, a chimp at the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest near Cle Elum, Wash.

A birthday celebration at the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for Foxie, a chimp marking her 40th birthday, underlines a painful past. Foxie was born in a Texas laboratory and was used for hepatitis experiments, which included frequent liver biopsies.

Sanctuaries across the U.S. are preparing for an influx of retired private lab chimps like Foxie now the federal government has stopped backing experiments on humankind's closest relatives. Their challenge will be finding the room and resources to house and rehabilitate the animals.

"There is no space right now for them," said Diana Goodrich, co-director of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. "It's a matter of getting enough money to expand the sanctuaries that exist."

Chimps were key in developing important medicines, and they paved astronauts' way into space. But their use declined dramatically in recent decades, and in a 2011 report, the Institute of Medicine said science had advanced to the point that most such research was no longer justified.

About 700 chimpanzees remain in government and private labs. The National Institutes of Health last month announced its final timeline for chimps in government custody, saying all 360 remaining animals will be transferred to Chimp Haven, a Louisiana sanctuary, by 2026.

For the 300 or so chimps in private laboratories, negotiations are underway with various sanctuaries, said Kathleen Conlee, who focuses on animal research issues at The Humane Society.

About 220 chimps will be housed at Project Chimp, a facility in northern Georgia. The latest transfer happened this month, with nine chimps moving to their new home.