Support The Chimp Bill   

To the Editor,

Important national legislation has recently been introduced that offers a humane and cost-effective approach to a tragic problem in our nation – what to do with the hundreds of chimpanzees who have been bred for research but are no longer wanted by the biomedical community and are simply being warehoused in laboratories across the nation. The Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection Act would create a national sanctuary system for chimpanzees who have been used in federally supported research.

Since 1986, the National Institute of Health has spent upwards of $50 million to breed chimpanzees at five US laboratories. But a trend away from their use in experiments for ethical and scientific reasons has resulted in both a surplus of these animals in research laboratories and a dwindling of funds available for their long-term care.

Chimpanzees are highly intelligent and complex beings. They have language and distinct cultures, use tools, teach their children, and make moral choices. Without government funding for their retirement to sanctuaries, these special beings will be condemned to spend decades more behind bars in laboratories.

Numerous scientists and researchers, including the eminent Dr Jane Goodall, believe that the federal government has a moral obligation to provide lifetime care for the chimpanzees it has used in experiments. I urge your readers to support the Chimp Bill (H.R. 3614) by contacting their congressional representatives today. For more information, contact In Defense of Animals, 131 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA 94941, 415/388 9641, e-mail: ida@idausa.org, or check the Web site at www.idausa.org.

Gay Engelberger

53 Hundred Acres Road, Newtown                           April 13, 2000