The HSUS

Kathleen Conlee and Richard Farinato at Black Beauty Ranch

By Kathleen Conlee

The staff at The Humane Society of the United States has devoted countless hours to the plight of chimpanzees used in biomedical research and testing. Our recent efforts began in the late 90’s, as we lobbied for a national sanctuary system to house chimpanzees no longer used for research purposes (as decided by the laboratories). That system became a reality with passage of the CHIMP Act in December of 2000 and the release of the first chimpanzees to the sanctuary system in April 2005. This law affords special recognition for chimpanzees, as all other species used in research are typically euthanized once they are no longer used.

My staff and I are working diligently on a campaign to end the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research and testing. But that is not the end of our campaign efforts — we are also seeking to retire the nearly 1,200 chimpanzees remaining in laboratories to permanent and appropriate sanctuary. Both of these goals are equally important and are encompassed in our Chimps Deserve Better (CDB) campaign.

The HSUS

Midge at Black Beauty Ranch

As we have continued to process our goals, it became obvious that we needed to get out and make some on-site visits to sanctuaries that already have great apes and get a sense of critical elements such as standards in place at each, capacity, and costs, just to name a few. I also wanted to see the national chimpanzee sanctuary we worked so hard to put into place years ago — how had I not visited there yet? In July, 2007, I made these visits a reality.

Great Ape Trust

I began my travels from Washington DC to Iowa, the home of the Great Ape Trust and its three orangutans and seven bonobos. I’ve heard so much about their facility, I was certainly excited to see it for myself. While the Great Ape Trust has sanctuary as part of its mission, it has three other aims that it considers of equal importance: research, education and conservation.

Conservation is so important to ensure that great apes continue to exist in the wild and educating people about great apes is essential to campaigns like ours, which seek to end practices that harm them.

I did a bit of educating while there too — I gave a “brown bag talk” to the Trust staff about chimpanzee research in the United States today and what our Chimps Deserve Better campaign seeks to do. As I discussed our campaign, I realized how far we’ve come but also how much work there still is to do. I became energized.

Great Ape Trust

Kathleen Conlee Gives Talk at Great Ape Trust

So you may wonder what I mean when I say that Great Ape Trust conducts research, after all aren’t we against research on great apes? The Chimps Deserve Better campaign seeks to end harmful research on chimpanzees such as infectious disease work and drug studies. The research done at the Trust is noninvasive and contributes to our knowledge about apes which only further supports our message that they shouldn’t be in laboratories. 

For example, some of the great apes there have been used in language acquisition studies using symbols. All of the research conducted at the Trust is voluntary on the part of the apes. This goes along with one of the most important tenets of sanctuary: the apes have choices, unlike those who are stuck in research labs.

I finally got to meet the apes, the best part of the visit! Azy, the gorgeous and sole male orangutan at the Trust, has quite a presence.  At 270 pounds he is a gentle giant. It has been a while since I worked hands-on with orangutans, but his calm demeanor immediately brought back fond memories of the orangutans I knew so well in my past (although never forgetting how physically strong they are). Their strength and intelligence always keep the caretakers on their toes!

It was my pleasure to meet the two females, Allie and Knobi, as well. Allie has been recovering from a neurological event but seems to get around just fine, which is great to see. Knobi took her water bottle with powdered drink in the bottom, filled it up with a bit of water, swirled it around and drank it. Apparently, it was a bit too strong as she went back to add more water. It’s these subtle things that never cease to amaze me.

After bidding them goodbye, I thought to myself how happy I am that there are no more orangutans living in laboratories. If only that were true for chimpanzees.

Next Stop: Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch (CABBR)

Meeting the stars of the Chimps Deserve Better campaign, Kitty, Lulu and Midge, was a must. After all, we had to celebrate their 10th anniversary out of life in laboratories.

Jennifer Ball, who works on the CDB campaign full time, and I started with a trip to the store to get treats for the anniversary celebration. I have to admit that meeting and buying treats for chimps is definitely a perk of our jobs. We got to the ranch and were excited to meet the chimps. I gave them a chimpanzee greeting by presenting the top of my bent wrist (a gesture known as a wrist-present), but honestly no one seemed to care. Then I thought to myself, ‘good for them—they aren’t desperately seeking attention as some human-raised chimpanzees do and aren’t being aggressive toward us.’They are content and laid back and have clearly adjusted to a calm life on the Ranch. It was actually heartwarming to see.

The HSUS

Midge Eats Watermelon at Anniversary Party

We prepared their anniversary “cake,” which was a bowl made of watermelon rind filled with fruits, berries, soy yogurt, and nondairy topping (just a bit). As soon as they saw us with the cake, the food grunts began. I knew we could get these chimps excited about something, even in this hot weather! We locked the chimpanzees out and carefully placed various pieces of cake throughout their large enclosure to make sure everyone got plenty and no one could monopolize it. We let everyone in and the fun began. Lulu, known for loving food, was very methodical about eating every last bite and set out for seconds. Midge didn’t pass up a chance at seconds either. Kitty took her treat where she could overlook the whole enclosure and ended up with her face completely inside of the bowl.  I’d say the watermelon cake was a hit.

I had heard that Midge likes to play tag, something I’ve seen in other captive male chimpanzees.  So I decided to play along since Kitty and Lulu don’t seem to like to amuse him with this game. He did seem to enjoy running away from me quite a bit and I was happy to oblige. Afterwards, they all had a chance to show off their new skills. Kitty Lulu and Midge have all been trained to cooperate with their caregivers in the case of emergency by shifting to different areas and showing body parts for inspection in case of an injury. They are only trained for what is really needed—nothing frivolous and no use of punishment, as training of chimpanzees used for movies and television often involves.

Finally, we had to say goodbye—after all there is a lot to do to help the 1300 chimpanzees remaining in laboratories. Kitty, Lulu and Midge will continue to help with our campaign. 

 Last Stop: Chimp Haven

Since Shreveport, Louisiana is about three hours from Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, I thought it would be great to arrange a visit to Chimp Haven. Chimp Haven is part of the national chimpanzee sanctuary system, which currently houses approximately 120 chimps. I’d been hearing so much about how well the chimpanzees there have adjusted to sanctuary life—I had to see for myself. The staff there kindly arranged for my visit.

The HSUS

Group of chimpanzees at Chimp Haven

Chimp Haven is is located in a nature park and a bit isolated, perfect for a chimpanzee sanctuary. I was glad that I was able to find the place and full of anticipation. I was given a tour of the sanctuary grounds, which had indoor bedrooms for the chimps that connected to large outdoor enclosures. Two of the enclosures were five acres each, which included many trees, and the chimpanzees were contained by concrete walls and a moat.

Seeing those chimpanzees actually behaving like chimpanzees should brought tears to my eyes. I know some say that they worry that chimpanzees won’t adjust to sanctuary life after a lab—but I saw for myself that is far from the truth. They were following each other through the woods, socially interacting, and seem to have adjusted very well, despite years in the laboratory. All of this and it is still less expensive than housing them in laboratories…to imagine that many of them are languishing in labs when they could be here.

Going Home

I drove away from Chimp Haven proud of the work that so many of us did eight years ago to make a national chimpanzee sanctuary system a reality—it took a lot of work by so many people.

At the same time, I became much more determined to get the rest of the chimpanzees out of small cages and enclosures and into a better place. I want this to happen before time runs out for those who have been in these small spaces for literally decades. I suddenly couldn’t wait to get home and work on converting our recent dream into a reality. 

Updated Jan. 19 2008