APE NEWS!

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Institutes of Health, which
supports a variety of biomedical studies using animals, will stop breeding
government-owned chimpanzees for research — a step animal rights
advocates lauded on Thursday.

The NIH’s National Center for Research Resources cited financial reasons
for its decision this week to permanently cease breeding of
government-owned chimpanzees for research. A breeding moratorium on
NCRR-owned and supported chimpanzees had been in place since 1995.

The Humane Society of the United States said it suspects that ethical
reasons also were involved in the decision. The group, which opposes the
use of these apes as lab animals, said the decision on ending breeding
likely also means NIH no longer will be acquiring new chimpanzees through
other means.
Because chimpanzees are physiologically and genetically similar to people,
they have been used in medical research defended by many scientists but
scorned by animals rights advocates on ethical grounds.

“This decision is a huge step towards a day when chimpanzees are no longer
used in invasive biomedical research and testing,” Kathleen Conlee of the
Humane Society said in a statement.

‘MONUMENTAL DECISION’

“This will spare some chimpanzees a life of up to 60 years in a
laboratory. While it doesn’t help chimpanzees already living in
laboratories, it is a monumental decision,” Conlee added. “Our ultimate
goal is to put an end (to) the use of chimpanzees in research and retire
those chimpanzees to permanent and appropriate sanctuary.”

The Humane Society said the NCRR’s chimpanzee population includes about
500 in laboratories and 90 more in a federal sanctuary for those deemed no
longer needed for research.

In a statement on its Web site, NCRR said it acknowledges the continuing
importance of chimpanzees to biomedical research, but cited “fiduciary
responsibilities” to maintain the health and well-being of chimpanzees
already in its care.

The center said chimpanzees can live at least 50 years in captivity, and
that high-quality care for a single animal over its lifespan can cost up
to $500,000. It said it also must meet budget responsibilities to other
programs and resources.

“Therefore, after careful review of existing chimpanzee resources, NCRR
has determined that it does not have the financial resources to support
the breeding of chimpanzees that are owned or supported by NCRR,” the
center said.

“However, NCRR will continue to honor its commitments to the existing
chimpanzee facilities, including the federal sanctuary for chimpanzees
that are no longer needed in biomedical research,” the center added.
The advocacy group Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in
U.S. Laboratories said about 1,300 chimpanzees are currently in U.S.
laboratories. It said some were caught in the wild as babies in Africa
while others were born in laboratories or sent from zoos, circuses and
animal trainers.

Theodora Capaldo, the group’s executive director, said that “not only U.S.
but also world sentiment is growing in support of the day when no
chimpanzees will be used in laboratory research.”
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Project R&R (Release and Restitution for chimps in US Laboratories) has completed the first of a number of studies to examine the efficacy – or lack thereof – of using chimpanzees in biomedical research and testing. An initial analysis found that chimpanzee studies contributed little, if at all, to tangible human clinical progress and practice.

Between 1995 and 2004 inclusive, 749 studies involving captive chimpanzees were published; 95 were randomly selected and reviewed to determine how often they were cited by subsequent papers.

Of this sample, 49.5% had not been cited at all by other scientific papers. A further 35.8% were cited only by papers that did not describe well-developed prophylactic, diagnostic or therapeutic methods for combating human diseases.

Only 14.7% of our random sample of chimpanzee studies were cited – specifically, 14 papers were cited by 27 subsequent papers. An in-depth analysis of these studies revealed that the chimpanzee experiments had contributed precious little, if anything at all, to the outcome of those papers reporting advances in human clinical practice.

For example, the chimpanzee studies had been conducted concurrently to human studies or to “confirm” previous human investigations; the results from them conflicted with results in other non-human primates or in human trials; the cited chimpanzee studies were peripheral to the human clinical study and/or cited purely as points of information; they illustrated historical findings with no direct relevance to current practice; or, the chimpanzee findings were purely speculative in nature.

Rather, the methods in those 27 papers that were pivotal to the development of human prophylactic, diagnostic or therapeutic methods included: in vitro studies, human clinical and epidemiological studies, molecular assays and methods, and genomic studies.

Specific areas of chimpanzee use in research are currently being systematically reviewed.

“Results are largely ignored, and even those that aren’t do not contribute significantly to human medicine. We must use the millions of dollars chimpanzee research costs more wisely, ethically and humanely and Project R&R will continue to investigate its efficacy – or lack thereof – until it is.” Jarrod Bailey, PhD, Science Director.

December 7, 2006

According to animal trainer Sid Yost of Amazing Animal Actors, which rents out animals for use in TV and movies, Angel, Apollo, Sable and Cody are four healthy and happy chimpanzees living at his Ranch in San Bernardino. He previously stated that “we pride ourselves on taking special care of our animal actors. All our animal actors are treated with respect, kindness and love.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Cody, Sable and Apollo came from the notorious Coulston Foundation (TCF) which previously housed the largest colony of captive chimpanzees for the purposes of biomedical research before it was closed down after been found guilty of appalling animal abuse. Angel is the only chimp at the ranch that was acquired from a zoo in California.

Cody, Sable, Angel and Apollo who have appeared in numerous TV shows, commercials and movies including “That ’70s Show” and “The Craig Kilborn Show,” were named in a federal lawsuit alleging cruelty by their California trainer Sid Yost.

In November 2005 in Riverside California the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), along with the Chimpanzee Collaboratory and three other plaintiffs, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court this morning against Hollywood chimpanzee “trainer” Sid Yost for violating the Endangered Species Act and the California anti-cruelty statute by subjecting the chimpanzees in his possession to extreme pain and suffering. Co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including primatologist Sarah Baeckler, who worked with Yost for more than a year, have witnessed him repeatedly abuse several chimpanzees by violently beating them with sticks, punching them with his fists, and inflicting excessive pain on them in order to force them to perform for movie and television appearances.

According to Baeckler she witnessed first-hand five young chimpanzee “actors” horrifying regime of abuse. She stated that “If the chimpanzees try to run away from a trainer, they are beaten. If they bite someone, they are beaten. If they don’t pay attention, they are beaten. Sometimes they are beaten without any provocation or for things that are completely out of their control,” She witnessed daily abuse of the chimpanzees. Baeckler described how it is impossible to train chimpanzees to perform in the manner required in the entertainment industry without abusing them.

At last under new settlement terms, Sable, Cody and Angel will leave Yost’s San Bernardino, California, facility on Saturday for sanctuaries in New Mexico and Florida. Maybe these poor animals can finally get a chance to be chimpanzees……

Please encourage filmmakers to use alternatives to the use of live great apes in productions. The use of computer-generated images, blue-screen technology, costumed actors, stock footage, and animatronics are viable alternatives that can and should be used by the film industry.

November 12, 2oo6

Tubman Joey
Every sunday for the last three years I have been working with a local wildlife park to implement an enrichment program for their primates: squirrel monkeys, tufted capuchins and chimpanzees. I am very passionate about improving the living conditions of primates in captivity. Many primates all over the world are forced to live out their lives in barren, unnatural enclosures without a thought for their psychological well-being. They are cared for, fed every day and their enclosures are cleaned but this is not enough. Mental health is as important as physical health.

When I first met Joey and Tubman, who are in their late thirties, their enclosures were barren and out-dated but the keeper and staff were happy to work with me to improve the lives of the primates in their care. Our priorities were building hammocks for the chimps so that they could sleep off the ground to reduce the risk of chills and to install logs at low and higher levels to encourage climbing. I also introduced a daily enrichment program which consists of six areas:

1. Permanent structures such as platforms, climbing structures, ledges, etc.
2. Semi-permanent items that are removable such as tyres, hammocks, ropes and cargo nets.
3. Non-permanent objects are placed in the chimpanzee enclosures daily and cleaned after they leave the area (magazines, paper, cardboard boxes, clothes, shoes, toys, etc.).
4. Food Puzzles are means of food dispersal that requires tool use and critical thinking skills to obtain the food such as a tree trunk with holes filled with raisins or cereals or an artificial termite mound (under construction).
5. Food can be presented in a variety of ways to encourage foraging such as hiding it in boxes, adding straw or sawdust or hanging the fruit in bags.
6. Music: playing the radio or tapes with different sounds.

All of the objects in these six areas are cheap or free and therefore there is absolutely no excuse for all facilities holding primates not to implement them. With a little bit of effort the differences in the animals’ psychological health can be astounding.

Joey in particular has made the most progress over three years. Originally he rarely moved around the enclosure, and if he displayed he would get out of breath very easily. Also, he showed a lack of interest in most enrichment activities such as scatter feeding or introducing new objects. Today he has lost weight, he regularly utilises more of his enclosure, he brachiates, plays and participates in all enrichment activities.

Tubman has always enjoyed the enrichment activities and he especially enjoys using branches to get raisins out of holes. He enjoys human contact and laughs when groomed or tickled.

Working with Joey and Tubman has made me realise that we should never give up on older animals because they all have the potential to flourish if efforts are made to change their lives. It is such a great feeling to see depressed listless individuals become more active and enjoy life.