Richardson Calls for USDA Investigation of Plan to Move Alamogordo Chimps

Yesterday, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking Secretary Tom Vilsack to intervene and stop the transfer of the Alamogordo chimpanzees.

Earlier this summer, animal protection groups learned of the National Institutes of Health's plan to move nearly 200 laboratory-veteran chimps, who have been living in retirement at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico, across to Texas and back into invasive medical research — a plan which Dr. Jane Goodall calls "morally wrong."

Gov. Richardson argues that it's also a violation of the Animal Welfare Act. USDA regulations state that nonhuman primates who are obviously ill, injured or in physical distress cannot be transported unless they're traveling for veterinary care. For the Alamogordo chimps, the move alone could kill them.

These chimpanzees spent years, sometimes decades, in cages no bigger than the area of a kitchen table, being subjected to invasive procedures day after day. As a result, many of them suffer from heart disease and viral infections, in addition to liver disease and diabetes. With 166 of the 186 chimpanzees over the age of 20, they're at risk for age-related complications, too.

Flo, the oldest resident at Alamogordo at 53 years old (and known for being quite the character), was chemically immobilized at least 115 times and has been injected with a variety of drugs, including PCP. In addition to suffering chronic cardiac problems and anemia, she's considered "at risk" of dying under anesthesia.

Rudy, only 28 years old, spent his first two decades enduring experiments that have left him with heart problems; he's considered high risk for declining health and sudden cardiac death.

Flo and Rudy are just two examples of the chronic health problems among the Alamogordo population. And that's not even taking into account their psychological distress from years as research subjects.

It's hard to imagine what possible use these chimpanzees could have for medical research. In addition to the overarching problem that chimpanzees are not humans (which is why they don't get AIDS or suffer from Hepatitis C the way humans do, and why decades of research has yet to yield a vaccine for these diseases), these particular animals come with a boatload of pre-existing conditions.

This is poised to be another boondoggle of taxpayer-funded government research. It doesn't help that housing for the chimps in Texas still needs to be built — with taxpayer dollars — while Alamogordo is already bought and paid for, ready to be a permanent sanctuary.

Gov. Richardson hasn't been the only one trying to talk sense into the National Institutes of Health. When announcing his request for the USDA investigation, Richardson was joined by Elizabeth Kucinich and Dr. Hope Ferdowsian of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States, and Laura Bonar from Animal Protection of New Mexico. All of these organizations and their supporters, along with the Change.org community, have been appealing to the NIH for months.

Now these groups are appealing not just to the USDA to step in, but to the public. Urge your representatives to get involved and ask the NIH to let the Alamogordo chimpanzees live out their lives in peace.

While the NIH has stuck to their plan, the date to move the chimps has been pushed back from January to the end of 2011. There's still time to save Flo, Rudy and the others. As Gov. Richardson says, these chimps have already sacrificed so much and "it's just plain cruel" to put them back in the lab.

Photo of Flo, courtesy of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine