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Help Retire Over 200 Chimpanzees from Testing In Alamogorado, NM To a Sanctuary
  1. Signatures
    602 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. State Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (+ 11 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • State Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (NM-012)
      • State Sen. Bernadette Sanchez (NM-026)
      • State Sen. Linda Lopez (NM-011)
      • State Rep. Ernesto Chavez (NM-012)
      • Sen. Jeff Bingaman (NM)
      • Gov. Bill Richardson (NM)
      • Rep. Martin Heinrich (NM-01)
      • Rep. Ben Lujan (NM-03)
      • Sen. Tom Udall (NM)
      • State Sen. Eric Griego (NM-014)
      • State Rep. Eleanor Chavez (NM-013)
      • Rep. Harry Teague (NM-02)
  2. Created By
    nora BUNNY
    albuquerque, NM
About this Petition Petition Letter
Why This Is Important

Over 200 government owned Chimps languish in the Alamogordo Primate Facility on New Mexico Hollman Air Force Base under a $42.8 million 10 year contract between Charles River and the National Institute of Health. Many of the chimps have been there since the 1950's. The Chimps are not being used for medical testing.

 A wonderful sanctuary in Alamogordo wants to see the chimpanzees be set free! The sanctuary, Save The Chimps, rescued 266 Chimps, and 61 monkeys from their lives as test subjects in 2002. Urge  NM  to release the Chimps from unnecessary testing and to send them to a  sanctuary to live out their lives in a safe, secure, and loving environment.

 

Recent Signatures

Please retire the APF chimps to a sanctuary.

Dear Representative

I am very disappointed to learn that the Alamogordo Primate Facility in Alamogordo, NM currently holds over 200 languishing chimps for on-site testing. APNM believes that the chimpanzees are not safe in CRL’s custody. CRL’s treatment of the chimpanzees at APF has been so scandalous that it resulted in criminal animal cruelty charges filed by Otero County, New Mexico District Attorney Scot Key in 2004. The basic facts are undisputed, but the criminal charges were eventually dismissed on a shocking legal technicality in 2008. The cruelty case made it all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court, with the active assistance and involvement of New Mexico Attorney General Gary King, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, former Governor David Cargo, New Mexico Veterinary Board members Drs. Ray Powell, John Romero and Susan Larsen, world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall and many others, including APNM.

Regardless of the unfortunate outcome of the criminal case, there are many compelling ethical, scientific and economic arguments that can and should be made so the chimpanzees at APF can finally be relocated to a permanent sanctuary. Doing so would allow these chimpanzees–many who have languished in research cages since the 1950’s–to finally live out the balance of their lives outside concrete and steel cages, living as chimpanzees were meant to live.

Every chimpanzee at the APF has been in a cage for at least ten years, and half of the chimpanzees have been living in a cage for a quarter of a century or more. None of the chimpanzees are being used for medical research. Moving the chimpanzees to a sanctuary also has the potential to save American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars over the life of the chimpanzees. A Florida based sanctuary, Save the Chimps, is also located in Alamogordo, and desperately wants the chimps at APF to be set free. They rescued over 300 chimps and other monkeys from testing in 2002. We urge the freedom of these beautiful, sentient beings immediately.
Thank you for your time and attention to this serious matter.

[Your name]