Retired laboratory chimpanzees have not been given a new lease on life in the vast Louisiana sanctuary

It’s been more than two decades since the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico stopped experimenting on chimpanzees — and a 2000 federal law — the CHIMP Act, for Chimpanzee Health Improvement Maintenance Protection — says they must ship the retired animals to Chimp Haven, a 200 acre protected wilderness for the big boys.

But there is one exception to the law that the NIH says allows them to be released – “dying” animals, those close to death, do not need to be moved – and the facility has claimed for YEARS that the remaining chimpanzees are on the run. on the brink of death, even though they don’t seem to be dying out!

“In human and veterinary medicine, it is commonly believed that ‘dying’ means that death is imminent,” explained Dr. Felicia Nutter, an animal veterinarian at Tufts University, told the Globe. “So any finding that chimpanzees have been dying for three years, something is wrong!”

The NIH retained a panel of veterinarians, who agreed that 44 of the original chimpanzee population were too sick to be moved to the retirement wonderland.

“The physiological and psychological stressors associated with transportation, quarantine, change in social structure, and change in human caregiver could precipitate a fatal cardiac event,” the panel grumbled.

But in 2022, a federal judge ruled that the chimps had the right to spend their last days in the sun – but 28 chimps are still behind bars!

“They really need to stop making excuses,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research at the Human Society. “Many chimpanzees have been moved to a sanctuary with health problems and have thrived in their new environment.”

“We have found that chimpanzees are an incredibly resilient species and thrive in the sanctuary’s environment,” said Rana Smith, president of the sanctuary.

And several US lawmakers have taken issue with the NIH’s steadfast refusal to move the monkeys.

“I have advocated for a humane and permanent solution for these chimpanzees so that they can live out the rest of their lives in a laboratory-free environment,” barked Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, adding that the agency’s dragging “This is a direct violation of federal law.”