A federal judge has ruled against the nation's largest biomedical agency in a long-running battle over the fate of dozens of former researchchimps. A Maryland court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. National Institutes of Health violated federal law by not moving animals out of their facilities. The agency may have to transfer the great apes because of the ruling.
Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is happy that the case has been dismissed. The animals can't be kept in the labs. They need to stop working.
The judge who issued the ruling acknowledged the main concern of the veterinarians and requested more information before she directed the agency how to proceed. Some in the biomedical community are not happy with the ruling.
Cindy Buckmaster is a spokeswoman for Americans for Medical Progress, a pro- animal research group. It is a devastating and heartbreaking decision for the Chimpanzees and their caregivers who love them.
Chimpanzees were used for research in the U.S. The Chimpanzee Health, Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act was passed in 2000 as studies on the animals began to diminish. Chimp Haven was supposed to be the only federal sanctuary for Chimps. The retirement of Chimpanzees owned by the Federal Government was mandated.
The United States became the last country to end research on Chimpanzees when the National Institute of Health stopped funding research on the animals. The agency promised to retire all of the 300 Chimps it owned or supported to Chimp Haven, a naturalistic environment where the animals can climb trees and poke sticks.
The Alamogordo primate Facility in New Mexico, the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Bastrop, Texas, and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio were the three locations where the remainingNIH Chimpanzees resided. Hundreds of additional chimp were owned privately by some of the facilities.
The National Institute for Health retired more than 200 of the Chimpanzees it owned and supported. Many of the others would remain in place in 2019. A panel of agency veterinarians concluded that all the Chimpanzees were too old and sick to be moved. Many had diabetes, heart conditions, and other issues, and the vets were concerned that taking them from facilities where some had spent most of their lives, placing them on a truck for hundreds of kilometers, and putting them in a completely different environment could compromise their health, or even kill them.
The same was applied to 49 of the Chimpanzees at the MD Anderson facility, and the same was applied to all of the Chimpanzees it owned.
In their current facilities, the apes have access to many of the same types of enrichment they would have at Chimp Haven, according to others in the biomedical community. The very old and sick animals would have to sit in a small transport box for days in order to get to Chimp Haven. They would face a world of strangers and uncertain social groupings before they could even think about enjoying life in their new home.
The majority of the chimp population at MD Anderson and Alamogordo are owned by the National Institute of Health. None of the animals at Texas Biomed are owned by the National Institute of Health.
Chimp Haven argued that the great apes should live out their lives in nature. Several lawmakers tried to get the agency to change its mind after they protested the stance. The move would endanger the welfare of the Chimpanzees.
The Humane Society of the United States and Animal Protection of New Mexico sued the National Institute of Health. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ruled this week that the stance of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is in violation of the ChiMP Act. She wrote that Congress intended for the federal sanctuary system to provide lifetime care for Chimpanzees that are no longer appropriate for research due to advanced age. Older and sicker chimp's would enter the federal sanctuary system.
The judge agreed with the concern of the animals. She ruled that the agency doesn't have the power to decide which Chimpanzees should not be moved to sanctuaries.
The animals should be transferred as soon as possible, according to the Humane Society of the United States. All parties will meet with the judge in January to try to find a solution to the problem.
Chimp Haven seemed happy with the decision. The best place for retired chimp's to live is the sanctuary. We are looking forward to working with the National Institute of Health on a plan to retire all government-owned and supported Chimpanzees.
Charles River Laboratories referred all questions to the National Institute of Health. The agency doesn't comment on lawsuits. MD Anderson says it is committed to the safety and welfare of the Chimps. The experts at MD Anderson work with the National Institute of Health to provide the best care for the Chimpanzees.
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