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Chimps earn new retirement plan
Government panel recommends end to euthanasia of research chimps
July 31, 1997
Web posted at: 4:31 a.m. EDT (0831 GMT)From Correspondent Rusty Dornin
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- They were bred for AIDS research, but when they turned out to be poor models for the disease, hundreds of chimpanzees faced extinction through euthanasia.
As research facility worries mounted about how to pay for the ongoing care of no longer needed chimps, a panel for the National Research Council recommended a solution.
For the 1,500 chimpanzees currently housed in research facilities throughout the U.S. a breeding moratorium will be introduced and specific steps will be taken toward making long-term care available for the primates.
"You can't just kill them. There are ethical and moral issues involved here," said Dr. Peter Theran, a member of the National Research Council panel. "They didn't feel it was right to euthanize them just because they were no longer needed in research."
Even animal rights advocates who oppose using chimps for research applauded the National Research Council's effort.
"They recognized our moral responsibility to these very special animals," said animal rights advocate Peggy Cunniff.
Small price to pay
The chimp problem came to a head because of Chimps bred for an expected increase in demand for AIDS research. But the animals proved ineffective in studying the deadly disease. Research facilities soon found themselves faced with caring for animals they had no use for.
"Animals who reproduced in the breeding program in the National Institute of Health in the past decade have 30 or 40 years of life remaining, and that's a very long time to have the resources to maintain them," said Tom Gordon of the Yerkes Primate Research Facility in Atlanta.
A number of chimps have already been given to zoos, but the study recommends that any sanctuary or facility care for the animals meet rigorous standards. Standards like those found at Yerkes, where the chimps are allowed to play outdoors every day.
"They could have been living in their own complex social environment, in their own habitat, so we have an obligation now to try to do that for them," says chimp-advocate Theran. "To create a facility that comes close to matching that."
Matching their natural habitat won't come cheap. The federal government already spends more than $7 million a year to care for the chimps.
But it's a small price to pay, some scientists say, for the priceless research data these chimps have provided.
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