Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories

Help rescue Wenka and 14 other chimpanzees before time runs out.

Ask for their release from research labs and placement into permanent sanctuary.

Greetings,

Wenka is a frail 52-year-old chimpanzee held at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, who deserves the comfort of sanctuary before she dies. In captivity, chimpanzees have a life expectancy of 50-60 years. Her time is running out.

Your immediate help is needed to secure Wenka’s release along with 14 other chimpanzees born in the 1950s who are still held at labs around the country.* Some have spent their entire lives in a laboratory enduring multiple procedures or being repeatedly “bred” to make more babies for research. Some were captured as infants in Africa.

The Chimpanzee Elders Who Need Our Help*
Gwen, age 54 – New Iberia Research Center, LA
Susie, age 52 – Primate Foundation of Arizona, AZ
Wenka, age 52 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Cheeta, age 49 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Flo, age 49 – Alamogordo Primate Facility, NM (government owned)
Lulu, age 49 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Maxine, age 49 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Harriet, age 49 – Primate Foundation of Arizona, AZ
Jenda, age 48 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Reba, age 48 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Karen, age 48 – New Iberia Research Center, LA
Jake, age 48 – New Iberia Research Center, LA
Guy, age 47 – Alamogordo Primate Facility, NM (government owned)
Boka, age 47 – Yerkes National Primate Research Center, GA
Billy Ray, age 47 – New Iberia Research Center, LA

*Because some labs refuse to provide updated information on the chimpanzees they are holding, it is unknown if all the individuals listed above are still alive (some information dates from 2001) or if other chimpanzees born in the 1950s exist.

You can change their fate and make their remaining years a life of dignity and protection in sanctuary by clicking here to sign onto the Project R&R letter demanding their immediate release.

A former lab worker remembers Wenka vividly: “Her fingers were long and delicate, her palms fragile, and they seemed to perfectly represent her sweet and passive nature.” According to Project R&R’s sources at the Yerkes lab, Wenka is still alive – presently living in a group with seven or eight other chimpanzees. Our most current information indicates that she is the third oldest chimpanzee in research.

HOW TO HELP

Sign the Project R&R letter that will be sent to NIH officials, lab directors, and affiliated university presidents – individuals who can show compassion to these elderly chimpanzees whose lives have been spent and exhausted by research.

According to a recent independent public survey commissioned by Project R&R,
71% of Americans support the release of chimpanzees who have spent longer
than 10 years in a laboratory.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Read more about Wenka and other chimpanzees from a former lab worker.
View WHO’S THERE? lists of the chimpanzee individuals held in labs.
Read about the trauma of lab life for chimpanzees.
Contact us at releasechimps@neavs.org

Make a donation: help Project R&R’s rescue
efforts. These chimpanzees have little time left!

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.Tell-a-friend!