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www.ambiente.us SEPTEMBER | SEPTIEMBRE 2010
PETA | Will Obama allow 60-year-old space program
veterans to retire?
By Ingrid E. Newkirk
New Mexico's Governor Richardson met with National Institutes of Health (NIH)
officials last month in a last-ditch effort to stop NIH from moving 202 "retired"
chimpanzees out of Holloman Air Force base and back into invasive
experiments. NIH is moving swiftly to transfer the chimpanzees into facilities so
substandard that caging conditions within them violate not only everything that
we have come to know about what chimpanzees require but also federal law
itself. Some of the animals are 60 years old; some are left over from the space
program. Gov. Richardson's visit came on the heels of petitions and pleas by
everyone from physicians, veterinarians and primatologists to actors such as
Gene Hackman, all of which have been ignored.
It was only a week earlier that Time magazine's cover story asked the question,
"What's on animals' minds?" Fifteen years before, as Dr. Jane Goodall mulled
over the complex relationships within chimpanzee families, Time had asked, "Do
animals think?" Now the question is "What do animals think?" In the case of
chimpanzees, who have been taught to use sign boards and even American
Sign Language to communicate with their human captors, they think a lot.
The more pressing question is now "What is NIH thinking?" And the answer isn't
befitting our nation's level of awareness about animals and its commitment to
their protection.
PETA | Will Obama allow 60-year-old space program
veterans to retire?
By Ingrid E. Newkirk
New Mexico's Governor Richardson met with National Institutes of Health (NIH)
officials last month in a last-ditch effort to stop NIH from moving 202 "retired"
chimpanzees out of Holloman Air Force base and back into invasive
experiments. NIH is moving swiftly to transfer the chimpanzees into facilities so
substandard that caging conditions within them violate not only everything that
we have come to know about what chimpanzees require but also federal law
itself. Some of the animals are 60 years old; some are left over from the space
program. Gov. Richardson's visit came on the heels of petitions and pleas by
everyone from physicians, veterinarians and primatologists to actors such as
Gene Hackman, all of which have been ignored.
It was only a week earlier that Time magazine's cover story asked the question,
"What's on animals' minds?" Fifteen years before, as Dr. Jane Goodall mulled
over the complex relationships within chimpanzee families, Time had asked, "Do
animals think?" Now the question is "What do animals think?" In the case of
chimpanzees, who have been taught to use sign boards and even American
Sign Language to communicate with their human captors, they think a lot.
The more pressing question is now "What is NIH thinking?" And the answer isn't
befitting our nation's level of awareness about animals and its commitment to
their protection.
In 2001, the U.S. Congress
recognized that chimpanzees
should be retired from
experimentation.
"Retirement" has not meant a
beachfront condo or a return
to the Gombe. Charities have
managed to wrest away
some chimpanzees,
rehabilitate them from a life
that, in some cases, consisted
of 34 years on a concrete
bench in a tiny cell or two
decades in a steel cage
barely any bigger than the
animal's body, and put them
in group care.
In many cases, "retirement"
has meant a continuation of
solitary confinement but no
more invasive and painful
procedures. Imbued with
active, intelligent minds,
naturally inclined to complex
social relationships, as
capable of falling in love and
carefully raising their children
recognized that chimpanzees
should be retired from
experimentation.
"Retirement" has not meant a
beachfront condo or a return
to the Gombe. Charities have
managed to wrest away
some chimpanzees,
rehabilitate them from a life
that, in some cases, consisted
of 34 years on a concrete
bench in a tiny cell or two
decades in a steel cage
barely any bigger than the
animal's body, and put them
in group care.
In many cases, "retirement"
has meant a continuation of
solitary confinement but no
more invasive and painful
procedures. Imbued with
active, intelligent minds,
naturally inclined to complex
social relationships, as
capable of falling in love and
carefully raising their children
as we are, they sit and wait, alone, with not even a blanket or an orange to keep them
company. It is cruel and unusual punishment for a thinking being, but it is still far better than
also being cut apart and sewn back up every so often, the fate that now awaits them again if
NIH does not stop this wretched plan.
NIH has already moved 15 of the "retired" chimpanzees to the Southwest Foundation, a Texas
facility that has failed to meet federal minimum standards for the care of animals. Federal
minimum standards for chimpanzees, by the way, require no more than enough room in which
to stand, sit and turn around―for life. Charles River Laboratories, which operates the
Alamogordo Primate Facility, another dungeon-like laboratory complex as notoriously
inhumane as Devil's Island, plans to start experimenting on these and the other chimpanzees
soon.
Carl Sagan once wondered if those who experiment on nonhuman primates would fare as well
as their subjects if the tables were turned. At first, he thought they would. But in one
experiment, in which monkeys were only permitted to eat if they pulled a lever that
administered an electric shock to another monkey, the monkeys chose to abstain from food
for up to 14 days, even if they didn't know the monkey being shocked. Sagan had to wonder
how many human beings in the same situation would be so selfless.
If this administration is to be seen as remotely humane, President Obama must act quickly to
stop the NIH officials who have chosen to ignore all that we have learned over the years
about how indistinguishable chimpanzees are from us in any important way, such as the ability
to feel pain and fear, love and joy, and the desire to live with others of one's own kind. The
chimpanzees being moved out of Holloman are not a testament to our society's quest for
understanding and compassion but rather a testament to its ability to betray, for a few bucks,
those who depend on us for mercy.
Ingrid E. Newkirk is the president and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org. Her latest book is The PETA Practical Guide to
Animal Rights.
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source
company. It is cruel and unusual punishment for a thinking being, but it is still far better than
also being cut apart and sewn back up every so often, the fate that now awaits them again if
NIH does not stop this wretched plan.
NIH has already moved 15 of the "retired" chimpanzees to the Southwest Foundation, a Texas
facility that has failed to meet federal minimum standards for the care of animals. Federal
minimum standards for chimpanzees, by the way, require no more than enough room in which
to stand, sit and turn around―for life. Charles River Laboratories, which operates the
Alamogordo Primate Facility, another dungeon-like laboratory complex as notoriously
inhumane as Devil's Island, plans to start experimenting on these and the other chimpanzees
soon.
Carl Sagan once wondered if those who experiment on nonhuman primates would fare as well
as their subjects if the tables were turned. At first, he thought they would. But in one
experiment, in which monkeys were only permitted to eat if they pulled a lever that
administered an electric shock to another monkey, the monkeys chose to abstain from food
for up to 14 days, even if they didn't know the monkey being shocked. Sagan had to wonder
how many human beings in the same situation would be so selfless.
If this administration is to be seen as remotely humane, President Obama must act quickly to
stop the NIH officials who have chosen to ignore all that we have learned over the years
about how indistinguishable chimpanzees are from us in any important way, such as the ability
to feel pain and fear, love and joy, and the desire to live with others of one's own kind. The
chimpanzees being moved out of Holloman are not a testament to our society's quest for
understanding and compassion but rather a testament to its ability to betray, for a few bucks,
those who depend on us for mercy.
Ingrid E. Newkirk is the president and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org. Her latest book is The PETA Practical Guide to
Animal Rights.
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source
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