Early 1920's - Robert M. Yerkes established a laboratory with two purchased great apes (one chimpanzee and one bonobo—thought to both be chimpanzees at the time) at his rural home; considered the start of chimpanzee research in the United States.

1940's - Yerkes Primate Research Center shifted focus to the study of infectious disease.

1950's - The Air Force created a breeding colony of 65 wild-caught chimpanzees for use in the space program.

NASA

Ham, the first chimp in space

Jan. 1961 - Ham, a chimpanzee from the Air Force colony, was placed on a ballistic trajectory flight.

Nov. 1961 - Enos, a chimpanzee from the Air Force colony, orbited the earth twice.

1975, 1977 - The United States restricted and then prohibited importation of chimpanzees caught in the wild under CITES*, with minor exceptions.

1976 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the chimpanzee as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

1978 - The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service created a Special Rule for chimpanzees, exempting them from protections afforded by the "threatened" designation under the Endangered Species Act 

1986 - A large chimpanzee breeding effort was launched for HIV research.

Mar. 12, 1990 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service up-listed wild chimpanzees to an "endangered" status under the Endangered Species Act and captive chimpanzees remained separately listed as "threatened" with a Special Rule.

1995 - The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates closed; half of the chimpanzees were sent to sanctuaries and half were sent to the Coulston Foundation, a laboratory in New Mexico.

1995 - A moratorium on the breeding of federally-owned chimpanzees was put in place by National Institutes of Health, due to a "surplus" of chimpanzees after the realization that the chimpanzee is a poor model for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

1997 - The National Research Council published Chimpanzees in research: strategies for their ethical care, management and use, which concluded in part that (1) there is a "moral responsibility" for the long-term care of chimpanzees that are used for our benefit in scientific research, (2) there should be a moratorium on further chimpanzee breeding; and (3) euthanasia as a means of general population control is unacceptable.

1997 - Holloman Air Force Base announced closure of its chimpanzee facility; 30 chimpanzees were sent to Primarily Primates (a sanctuary in Texas) and the remaining 111 were sent to the Coulston Foundation, despite offers from other sanctuaries to care for them. 

Apr. 15, 1999 - A coalition of research, animal protection, zoo, and sanctuary community representatives presented the issue of chimpanzee "retirement" to members of Congress.

Oct. 1999 - The sanctuary Save the Chimps (formerly the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care) entered into an agreement with the Coulston Foundation after it was granted custody of 21 chimpanzees following a suit against the Air Force.

Chimpanzees share many traits with humans

Nov. 22, 1999 - H.R. 3514, the federal Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection (CHIMP) Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It called for the federal government to provide for permanent "retirement" of chimpanzees identified as no longer needed for research.

June 14, 2000 - S. 2725, the CHIMP Act, was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Robert Smith (R-N.H.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

Oct. 24, 2000 - The House passed the CHIMP Act with amendments that allowed chimpanzees to be returned to research laboratories under certain circumstances.

Dec. 6, 2000 - The Senate passed the House version of the CHIMP Act by unanimous vote.

Dec. 20, 2000 - President Clinton signed the CHIMP Act into public law (P.L. 106-551).

2001 - The National Institutes of Health stopped funding the Coulston Foundation. That same year, The Coulston Foundation transferred 300 chimpanzees to the Alamogordo Primate Facility to settle violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

Sept. 28, 2001 - The National Institutes of Health published a Request for Proposal for an entity to operate and maintain the national sanctuary system via the CHIMP Act.

Dec. 20, 2001 - The Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, and related agencies' 2002 Appropriations Act (H.R. 3061) allocated $5 million to begin construction on the national chimpanzee sanctuary facilities.

2002 - The Coulston Foundation collapsed financially.

Sept. 20, 2002 - NIH announced the award of a contract to Chimp Haven for the establishment and operation of a chimpanzee sanctuary, pursuant to the CHIMP Act.

May 1, 2003 - Chimp Haven broke ground at its Shreveport, La. facility.

Jan. 11, 2005 - NIH published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding standards of care for chimpanzees within the national sanctuary system.

Apr. 4, 2005 - The first chimpanzee residents, Rita and Teresa from The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, arrived at Chimp Haven.

Sept. 2005 - The National Advisory Research Resources Council, which advises, the National Center for Research Resource of the NIH, extends the breeding moratorium on chimpanzees until the end of 2007.

iStockphoto

Chimpanzees are very social animals.

Sept. 2005 - The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium published the initial sequence of the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) genome.

Feb. 2006 - Ohio State University closed its chimpanzee facility and transferred nine chimpanzees to Primarily Primates in Texas. Note: The seven remaining chimpanzees from this group have since been moved to Chimp Haven (two chimpanzees died within six weeks of arrival at Primarily Primates)

July 2006– An amendment is introduced by Representative McCrery to take out the provisions in the CHIMP Act that allow for chimpanzees to be removed from the sanctuary system and sent back to the laboratory for research purposes.

July 13, 2006 - A bill to amend the CHIMP Act was introduced in the House of Representatives. H.R. 5798 was intended to disallow the removal of chimpanzees from the federal sanctuary system for research purposes other than non-invasive behavioral studies.

Sept. 2006 - The Primate Foundation of Arizona announced that it had transferred ownership of its 69 chimpanzees to the federal government and that most of the chimpanzees would be moved to the University of Texas, MD Anderson facility by 2010.

Dec. 6, 2006 - H.R. 5798 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but failed to be approved by the Senate before Congress adjourned.

Dec. 2006 – The CHIMP Act amendments introduced in July 2006 passed the House of Representatives, but did not make progress in the Senate before the end of the session.

May 22, 2007 – The National Center for Research Resource of NIH announced its decision to make the breeding moratorium on federally owned chimpanzees permanent.

Spring 2007 – Twenty seven chimpanzees arrive at Chimp Haven, bringing the total number of chimpanzees at the facility to 117.

Aug. 1, 2007 – Two bills, H.R. 2395 and S. 1916, are introduced in the House and Senate. The identical bills are intended to disallow the removal of chimpanzees from the federal sanctuary system for research purposes other than non-invasive behavioral studies.

 

Aug. 2007 –Amendments to the CHIMP Act are introduced by Rep. McCrery and Sen. Burr that would take out the provisions in the CHIMP Act for chimpanzees to be removed from the sanctuary system and sent back to the laboratory for research purposes

 

Nov. 2007 – Chimp Haven welcomes 10 chimpanzees bringing the total number of chimpanzees at the sanctuary to 127.

 

Dec. 2007 – The CHIMP Act amendments introduced in August 2007 were signed into law by President Bush.

*CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Updated Jan. 19, 2008