Chimps: Life in the Lab

The groundbreaking McClatchy Newspapers Special Report

The FOIA victory against NIH for chimpanzee medical records from Alamogordo Primate Facility led to the groundbreaking McClatchy Newspaper Special Report, “Chimps: Life in the Lab.”

This series was written by Chris Adams and published on April 25, 2011.

Some lab chimps left with poor health, shortened lives

“According to a report by a consultant the NIH hired to review the deaths, Rex's last day in late 2002 went like this: In the morning, the 16-year-old chimp had little appetite and a cough. He was dehydrated, with a mass in his abdomen; he hadn't eaten his monkey chow the previous two days. He was examined that day and "Accepted diagnostic and treatment procedures were performed; however, the chimpanzee died," the consultant reported. Rex's history of liver biopsies probably led to a condition called septicemia, or bacteria in his blood, the consultant said.”

Some chimps never recover from stresses of research

“Donovan the chimp transformed from a friendly ape who "adapts well to peers" to one who beat his female cage-mate so aggressively they had to be separated. Lira became a "chronic hair plucker," with large barren patches on her body. Bobby bit and mutilated his own arm, leaving permanent scars. He was so depressed that he slept sitting up, facing the wall of his cage.”

As science turns from chimp research, U.S. wants to restart

“Starting in the 1960s, Lennie, a chimpanzee, was strapped in a spacesuit for U.S. government test flights, and subjected to spinal taps. He was fed a banana laced with triparanol, a drug already removed from the market for humans. In the 1970s, he was a breeder, used to increase the supply of lab chimps. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was infected with the HIV and hepatitis viruses and subjected time and again to blood draws and biopsies.

In 2002, Lennie died at a federal primate facility in the New Mexico desert, where many of his former cage-mates still live.”