ABOUT THIS SITE

At a meeting of scholars, including philosophers, ethologists, primatologists and physicians, sponsored by the ARCUS Foundation, chimpanzee expert William McGrew suggested that I develop a website to identify the last 1000 chimpanzees in research and model the site on the first 100 chimpanzee website I launched in 2006.

The era of chimpanzee research is coming to an end and this site will track the movement of chimpanzees from laboratory to sanctuary as a way of honoring their service.

I contacted web designer Anne Marcotty and got to work trying to collect names of the chimpanzees who remained in research facilities. One of the ways to acknowledge the debt we owe these chimpanzees is to recognize them as individuals, not as nameless tools or a mass of "research chimpanzees." However, identifying each individual by name has not been easy. For example, Yerkes National Primate Research Center (YNPRC) refuses to provide any information at all. The last list I have contains 104 names, in October 2011 YNPRC reported they held 85 chimpanzees.  My requests to learn about who had died have not been answered and I continue to be puzzled by the secrecy. So the list on this site contains names of the last 1000 chimpanzees, some of whom may have already died.  Fortunately, some of the last 1000 listed here have already retired to Chimp Haven.

I will update the list as more accurate information becomes available and as chimpanzees retire to sanctuary.  It is based on data I have been collecting through my ongoing research on captive chimpanzees, as well as the work of Project Release and Restitution and the Humane Society of the US. According to a report published by the Institute of Medicine on the Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research at the end of 2011, there were 937 chimpanzees in laboratories. As of Fall 2019 there remain under 400 chimpanzees in laboratories.  The hope is that all the chimpanzees will join others who have already been retired to Chimp Haven and Project Chimps. I welcome assistance to accurately identify those chimpanzees who are still listed as numbers. Please contact me at lgruen@wesleyan.edu.

I will be posting updates on Twitter and Facebook at Last 1000 Chimps.

-- Professor Lori Gruen