In June 2013, the agency’s top officials pledged with great fanfare to eventually retire the chimps to habitats where they could roam more freely instead of being cooped up in corrals or cages at research facilities.
“We believe (chimpanzees) deserve special consideration as special creatures,” NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said at a news conference announcing the agency’s intentions. “(It is) our responsibility to treat them with respect.”
But so far, only six of the 310 research chimps have been allowed to leave government research facilities, and the agency has no timetable for when it will retire the rest to sanctuaries. In the meantime, dozens of the chimps have died waiting.
Advocates for the chimps say there’s no reason the retirements to sanctuaries should be taking so long, especially since the NIH says scientific advances have rendered the chimps largely unnecessary for research.
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But the director of Chimp Haven disagreed.
“Retired means to sanctuary. Labs are lots of things, but they are certainly not sanctuaries, and so it’s important that the chimps come here,” Spraetz said.
She noted that some lab chimps have lived in cages for so long, they’re afraid of grass when they arrive at Chimp Haven. Gradually, they become accustomed to living in a more natural setting.
“There are lots of tears when we see chimps released into a very large corral or habitat for the first time,” she said. “Just knowing here they had an opportunity that they’ve not had their entire life makes it all so worthwhile.”
