A Heaven for Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees have been used as laboratory subjects in medicine and in space exploration for at least 60 years.

Chimpanzees in laboratories live in 5-by-5-by-7-foot stainless steel cages. They receive food and water but no attention or affection. Let's be real, labs aren't playgrounds or refuges, nor are researchers rehabilitators.

World-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, after visiting chimps confined alone in cages, wrote : "They are so grateful for a little human contact and love. They reach out to me from their cages in search of a hug or a kiss. And when I turn to leave, they scream and bang the walls."

Chimpanzees have a life span of about 50 years. They can spend decades in cages.

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
Has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
The movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a centre
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly-. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.

- La panthère dans le Jardin des Plantes, Paris : Rainer Maria Rilke

The great lab-chimp surplus is mainly due to AIDS.

An aggressive breeding programme was started in the 1980s on the assumption that chimpanzees would be ideal models for developing an AIDS vaccine for people. The assumption was wrong. Chimps can contract the virus, but they're virtually immune to its effects.

So laboratories were left with large numbers of chimps, infected with AIDS, unable to be used in any other research. What could be done with them? The easy answer was to euthanise all the surplus chimpanzees - and this is where Chimp Heaven stepped in.

The chimpanzees couldn't go home. They had no home! Originally from Africa where chimpanzees are now a threatened species, these former lab chimps would be unable to live in the wild. On top of that, many suffered chronic illnesses from all of the experimentation.

In 1995, Linda Brent, behavioural primatologist, and Amy Fultz, primate behaviourist, founded a centre to deal with this growing number of surplus chimps.

In 2002 Chimp Haven was selected to construct and operate the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary System. It's an inspired piece of retirement legislation!

Chimp Haven is a Heaven for these retired chimpanzees.

There are two five-acre wedges of woodland, accessed from the chimps' bedrooms and play areas, all under the watchful eyes of animal behaviourists, veterinarians, enrichment specialists and daily caretakers.

The bedrooms have fresh running water and cross-ventilation with lots of light from multiple windows and skylights. The beds themselves are perfect for a chimpanzee, hammocks made of used fire hose, with warm blankets and hay. They even have vanity mirrors!

At last, some peace and, more importantly, dignity, in the lives of these misused animals.

Sarah, an elderly chimp, spent most of her life in cognitive research with Dr. David Premack's lab at the University of Pennsylvania, with work documented in The Mind of an Ape (1983). She has her own listing in Wikipedia.

Sheba spent the majority of her life at the OSU Chimpanzee Center. She's incredibly intelligent and knows how to count.

Keeli, a handsome robust male, was born at Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Ivy was also born at Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Emma, a small young female , was born at UTMD Anderson Cancer center.

Harper was also born at UTMD Anderson Cancer Center.

Chimp Haven can't exist without your donations to help defray the expense of caring for the large community of chimpanzees.

FunTIm : NASA : American Humane Association