PCRM Fights for Aging, Sick Chimpanzees

Ken’s health is so precarious that he has a Do Not Resuscitate order in his medical file. This 29-year-old is one of 14 aging and seriously ill chimpanzees whose poor health prompted PCRM to file a Petition for Investigative Action with the federal government this August.

A Texas laboratory is using Ken and his companions in invasive experiments. PCRM’s legal petition, filed by three physicians, a former chimpanzee researcher, and other experts, argues that these experiments should be halted immediately and that the chimpanzees should be released and should go back to the facility they were moved from last year or to a suitable sanctuary.

A review of veterinary records for most of the 14 chimpanzees at Texas Biomed’s Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio showed that these individuals, who have been used in experiments for decades, are suffering physical and psychological harm in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

At least two of the chimpanzees are in such poor health that laboratory procedures could kill them. Ken, for example, is at risk of sudden cardiac death, according to veterinary records PCRM obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The 14 chimpanzees were taken out of a nonresearch facility in New Mexico last year by the National Institutes of Health and transferred to Texas Biomed, where they have undergone liver biopsies and other painful procedures during hepatitis experiments.

In addition to their long history of disease and physical stressors, the 14 chimpanzees transferred to Texas Biomed are likely in poor psychological health and exhibit abnormal behaviors because of their histories of isolation, confinement, and abuse.