The Florida-based Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care (CCCC)
announced on Wednesday, September 18, that it will permanently
care for approximately 266 chimpanzees and 61 monkeys who were
once used in research at the recently shuttered Coulston
Foundation (TCF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
The announcement follows years of pressure from animal
protection advocates who frequently denounced Coulston's long,
well-documented history of poor animal care and questionable
research protocols. In particular, the Mill Valley,
California-based In Defense of Animals spearheaded a campaign
beginning in 1993, to have the facility shut down.
In addition to facing foreclosure after its federal funding
dried up (Coulston became ineligible to receive federal funding
during 2001 once it no longer had an Animal Welfare Assurance
on file with the National Institutes of Health), Coulston was
also facing bankruptcy, nearly $500,000 in tax liens from the
government and the state of New Mexico, as well as lawsuits
from creditors. When the threat of foreclosure became
inevitable, CCCC, headed and founded by Dr. Carole Noon,
stepped in and bought Coulston's property on the condition that
TCF donate all its primates to her Florida sanctuary.
The purchase of TCF was made possible by a $3.7 million
grant from the Arcus Foundation located in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Many animal protection organizations also provided financial
support.
"These unfortunate animals have suffered a great deal over
the course of their sad lives, both from the experiments they
endured and the bleak conditions under which they lived, day
after day," said Dr. Martin Stephens, HSUS vice president for
animal research issues. "They can now begin to enjoy the kind
of living conditions and care that they so richly deserve."
Among the 266 chimps slated for retirement are 16 of the
famous Air Force chimpanzees (or their descendants), those who
survived the research projects conducted by the U.S. space
program. CCCC will reportedly care for the animals at its
expanded facilities in Florida and, at least temporarily, at
the former Coulston facilities.
TCF, which once housed 650 chimpanzees and was the largest
captive chimpanzee colony in the world, had a history of
violating federal regulations and guidelines. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) charged TCF at least four
separate times with violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA),
ranging from inadequate veterinary care to conducting
unapproved research protocols to negligent deaths.
In August 1999, TCF agreed to surrender 300 chimpanzees
(reportedly almost half its population) and submit to outside
oversight in order to settle AWA violations. TCF also faced
possible disqualification by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) for widespread and continuous violations of Good
Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations. In a second warning
letter sent to TCF in October 2001, the FDA informed the lab
that it would not accept studies conducted after December 1999,
when the first FDA warning letter was issued to no apparent
effect.
But arguably the biggest blow came several months earlier,
in June 2001, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
terminated funding to TCF, which crippled the lab because it
reportedly received as much as two thirds of its annual budget
from the federal agency. In December 2001, the First National
Bank of Alamogordo filed a foreclosure lawsuit in state
District Court, claiming that the facility owed more than $1.16
million in outstanding loans.
The future is looking vastly brighter, however, for the
hundreds of primates previously held captive at TCF. During the
campaign to shut down TCF, a main concern was who could care
for the animals and where.
"The animal protection community is greatly moved by the
efforts of Dr. Noon and her staff, the Arcus Foundation, and
the various animal protection organizations that provided
additional support throughout the years," said The HSUS's
Stephens.
Sources: PR Newswire, In Defense
of Animals, 12th Judicial District Court of New Mexico, The
Food and Drug Administration, The HSUS
