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Air Force planning to give away chimpanzees
June 17, 1997
Web posted at: 6:58 p.m. EDT (2258 GMT)ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- Almost 150 chimpanzees who served their country through the Air Force are about to get a taste of civilian life.
The Air Force was meeting Tuesday to discuss plans to "divest" the chimps, some of whom were used in the early days of the space program. None of the chimps actually flew in space.
The chimps currently live at the Primate Research Complex at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
Under a law passed by Congress, the Air Force will either give the chimps to researchers for use in scientific or medical experimentation, or to individuals who want to retire the chimps by placing them in chimpanzee sanctuaries. There is no preference under the law for one use over the other.
But animal rights groups are hoping to come up with a plan to keep them out of the hands of researchers.
Tuesday's meeting, the Air Force says, is not intended to be a forum for debate on the ethics of animal experimentation, but instead is to share basic information about the plan to give the chimps away. Would-be recipients must be prepared to feed and provide medical attention for the animals, some of which live 40 or 50 years. The Air Force says it takes $15 to $25 dollars per day to care for the chimps.
In Defense of Animals, an animal welfare organization, says the Holloman chimps were made internationally famous by Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, and Enos, who orbited the Earth before the United States placed a man in orbit.
Those two chimps are now dead, but the Holloman chimps to be "divested" include Minnie, age 40, Angie, 43 and Larue, 36, as well as some chimps as young as Lil' Mini, who will turn 4 this month.
The Air Force has set up a home page for the chimp divestment at www.brooks.af.mil/HSC/PK/divest.
Related story:
- Chimpanzees swing into life of leisure - October 26, 1995
Related sites:
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- Human Systems Center - Brooks Air Force Base
- The Chimpanzee Zone
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