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Inspiring! 22 Year Chimpanzee Story

Inspiring! 22 Year Chimpanzee Story

 

Last week, we shared news of a truly historic achievement – after many years, the NIH finally ended its program of supplying chimpanzees for experiments! Lives of isolation, loneliness and the horrors of life as a test subject have finally come to an end for some of our closest relatives.

This significant step toward ending chimpanzee experiments reminds us that change is possible, thanks to the dedicated participation and support of animal advocates like you! What follows are key events in IDA’s fight to liberate chimpanzees from laboratories which we hope will inspire you to take further action for all animals whether trapped in laboratories, or suffering some other tragic fate:

Battle to close down the world’s largest chimpanzee lab:

- 1993: IDA learns that chimpanzee survivors of the US space program are headed for the world’s largest chimpanzee testing lab, the notorious Coulston Foundation. IDA’s intervention sees 50 sent to sanctuaries.

- 1995: Cruelty, negligence and abuse is revealed in IDA’s formal complaint against the Coulston Foundation. The USDA files official charges.

- 1999: VICTORY! 300 of 650 chimpanzees at the Coulston Foundation are forced to be surrendered under an unprecedented USDA legal agreement.

- 2000: IDA exposes illegal funding and scientific fraud in chimpanzee research and calls on Congress to cease NIH funding for the Coulston Foundation and ensure survivors are retired to sanctuaries.

Dr Jane Goodall plain- 2002: COMPLETE VICTORY! Coulston’s laboratories are shut down and 300 non-human primates are retired to sanctuaries, marking a historic end to IDA’s 9 year campaign.

- IDA gives a large donation to help establish a sanctuary to rehome hundreds of primates and convinces Dr Jane Goodall to join the sanctuary’s board.

Exposing NIH chimpanzee research

- 2004: An unprecedented criminal investigation is sparked by IDA into the deaths of two chimpanzees at the NIH funded Almogordo Primate Facility.

- 2005: IDA raises the profile of abuses at another NIH funded laboratory, the New Iberia Research Center, by supporting an animal researcher-turned-whistleblower.

- 2006: IDA begins a 5 year legal battle to obtain documents on the NIH’s chimpanzee experiments.

- 2011: VICTORY! IDA evidence forms the basis of the groundbreaking McClatchey report which reveals the horrors of chimpanzee experimentation to many people for the first time in a three part newspaper series. The documents obtained by IDA inform a highly influential the Institute of Medicine review and IDA is invited to testify.

Ending NIH sponsored chimpanzee experimentation

- 2012: IDA supporters inundate the NIH with letters calling for the liberation of over 100 chimpanzees from the New Iberia Research Center.

- 2013: VICTORY! A historic achievement as after years of pressure, the NIH decides to liberate most of 451 chimpanzees from laboratories and send them to sanctuaries! IDA supporters flood the NIH with letters and postcards calling for the retirement of 50 remaining chimpanzees.

- 2015: VICTORY! NIH announces an end to its chimpanzee research program, marking a significant achievement for animals used in experiments!

Thank you for your dedication throughout the years in helping IDA end experiments on chimpanzees supported by the NIH. It is only with the participation and support of people like you that IDA can continue our lifesaving work for animals. Please consider making a donation today.

“The day will come when we shall no longer use chimpanzees and monkeys – and other sentient and sapient animals – in research of this kind. IDA is helping to move us in the right direction”. Dr. Jane Goodall

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