All Chimpanzees Deserve Sanctuary

Editor's Note: Although this post by Dr. Debra Durham focuses on research performed on chimpanzees, neither this blog nor PCRM is suggesting here that research merely be moved from chimps to other animals. Rather, nonanimal research that is more reliable and scientifically sound, in addition to more humane, should replace the cruel experimentation on chimps--and other animals. -S. Ernst

Lately, everyone has been wondering what happened to Bubbles, the chimpanzee who often appeared in photos and interviews with Michael Jackson. People were concerned that he might have ended up as a subject in biomedical experiments or in a roadside zoo.

But media outlets have reported that Bubbles is safe and sound at a sanctuary for great apes in Florida, where, according to a blogger on "The Daily Beast" who recently visited Bubbles, he "makes his home most of the time in a giant enclosure surrounded by native ferns, banana trees, water oaks, hibiscus, and Florida maples." Bubbles shares his home with a large group of chimpanzees, all released from the entertainment world where they were used in movies, television shows, commercials, and circuses.

As a primatologist, I often consider the strangeness of our relationships to nonhuman primates. We mock them when they're dressed in funny clothes or, in Bubbles' case, doing the "moonwalk." But we're in awe of their social lives, their awareness, and their emotional capabilities.

According to Bubbles' sanctuary, Bubbles is an extremely sensitive individual. The sanctuary's profile of Bubbles says, "If he has any kind of cut or scratch on his body, no matter how small, he will show it many times during the day to his caregivers and ask for sympathy."

We're constantly amazed by our similarities to chimpanzees and other primates--but we continue to keep these remarkable animals in extremely unnatural environments where they suffer immensely.

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The United States is the only nation in the world that still uses chimpanzees in large-scale, invasive experiments. Chimpanzees are humans' closest genetic relatives, sharing approximately 99 percent of our DNA. But important biological differences between the species lead to major differences in disease processes and treatment efficacy. As a result, the scientific community has suffered many failures in trying to use chimpanzees for research on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, malaria, cancer, and other human diseases.

The United Kingdom, New Zealand, Belgium, Japan, and other countries have passed laws to ban or restrict experiments on chimpanzees because of a growing awareness of the serious problems with these experiments. But more than 1,000 chimpanzees remain in U.S. laboratories that are permitted to keep them in metal cages about the size of a kitchen table and repeatedly subject them to invasive procedures.

The suffering of chimpanzees used for research is not limited to the actual experiments. Daily life in a laboratory setting is traumatic for these highly social and sensitive individuals. The Animal Welfare Act includes guidelines meant to support the well-being of nonhuman primates in laboratories, but no guideline can remove the constant stress, confinement, and boredom from laboratory life. Furthermore, recent investigations have found that some laboratories do not even follow minimal welfare guidelines.

The mistreatment and social isolation chimpanzees endure in laboratories cause long-lasting psychological damage. Last year, at an international primatology meeting, my colleague and I presented preliminary data from our observational study of more than 100 chimpanzees previously used in laboratories who are now in a sanctuary. Similar to what other scientists have demonstrated, we found that the chimpanzees have a high prevalence of symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other anxiety disorders, much like human victims of traumatic experiences.

Legislation recently introduced in Congress could change the fate of chimpanzees in U.S. laboratories and allow them to live their remaining years in sanctuaries like Bubbles'. The Great Ape Protection Act, HR 1326, would phase out all invasive research on all chimpanzees now kept in laboratories and release approximately 500 federally owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuaries. It would also make the recent National Institutes of Health decision to end breeding of federally owned chimpanzees part of federal law.

Phasing out the use of chimpanzees in experiments would give these remarkable animals the peace they deserve. And it would also provide new impetus for the development and implementation of innovative nonanimal research methods, which are scientifically superior and represent the future of medical research.

The Great Ape Protection Act is gaining momentum and now has 58 representatives as co-sponsors, but it needs more support. Please sign the Change.org petition here and ask your representative to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection Act: http://www.change.org/physicians_committee_for_responsible_medicine/actions/view/urge_congress_to_support_the_great_ape_protection_act.

To learn more about the proposal to end research on chimpanzees, go to http://www.PCRM.org/GAPA.