RMJ-Focus-Chimps-29
Project Chimps was established in 2014 as a way to find the nation's research Chimpanzee population a sanctuary home to safely live in retirement. Because of changes to federal regulations and funding Chimpanzees are no longer used for invasive research procedures and therefore are in desperate need of permanent long-term care. Project Chimps which received its first nine chimps from the New Iberia Research Center on September 8 will eventually be home to almost 300 chimpanzees. Here, the chimps must remain locked in an indoor/outdoor cage system under quarantine for the first 30 days before the team begins the process of introduing them into the natural habitat of the sanctuary. Many of the chimps have been free outside or even touched grass before.
CREDIT: Raymond McCrea Jones