Retired lab chimps hang out in their enclosure at the independent, nonprofit National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, also known as Chimp Haven, in Louisiana.
Government Research Chimps Set to Retire
The National Institutes of Health plans to send its last 50 biomedical research chimps to a sanctuary in Louisiana.
The last of the government’s research chimpanzees will soon be retiring to 200 acres of a wooded sanctuary in Louisiana.
National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins made the announcement in an email to agency administrators, Nature reported.
These 50 chimps stayed behind in government research facilities after the NIH sent several hundred of their compatriots to retirement sanctuaries in 2013. They were kept on in case of a public health emergency that required research.
This past June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service categorized captive chimps as an endangered species, a status their wild counterparts already had. That status meant scientists who planned to conduct experiments that could “harm or injure them” would require a permit.
The chimps will be
