Our Trip to New Mexico

Arryn Ketter
Fauna Foundation Newsletter

“I had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months before I used one as a [heart] donor. When we put him to sleep in his cage in preparation for the operation, he chattered and cried incessantly. We attached no significance to this, but it must have made a great impression on his companion, for when we removed the body to the operation room, the other chimp wept bitterly and was inconsolable for days. The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures.”

– Dr. Christian Barnard

I have never seen such a dreadful place. I knew that it would not be an easy place to visit, but I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. Even though Carole Noon, of the Centre for Captive Chimpanzee Care, has made some tremendous improvements, like skylights to bring in some natural light, much better diets and enrichment for the chimps, it is still very sad to see these chimpanzees, some of whom have spent their entire lives in this dingy laboratory in Alamogordo, New Mexico and others who have been transferred time and time again from one laboratory to another, only to end up at what was once, the notorious Coulston Foundation.

The Coulston Foundation possessed at one time the largest group of chimpanzees kept for biomedical research and testing. Frederick Coulston called his place “the true sanctuary” for chimpanzees. He felt that even the older chimpanzees could be useful in research, for aging studies, for example. The Coulston Foundation also kept monkeys; many of whom, we learned sadly, were caught in the wild. The laboratory was officially closed in September 2003. 231 of the chimpanzees were, at Fred Coulston’s request, transferred to Carole Noon, who with the help of the amazing Arcus Foundation was able to buy the New Mexico facility.

She immediately set to work in improving the facility. Even though her long-term goal is to move the chimpanzees to Florida to join the 21 chimpanzees who are living in the Boynton Beach sanctuary, she knew that it would take time to raise the money to move 231 chimpanzees to Florida from New Mexico. Scarcely taking the time to either eat or sleep, Dr. Noon works tirelessly for her new charges. From organizing her staff to ensuring that the chimps who are singly housed get a little extra attention from her, she moves from building to building making sure that the chimps’ needs are being met.

Several of the chimpanzees who are living in Alamogordo are relatives of chimpanzees who are living at Fauna. We were lucky to meet them. It was surprising to see how much the family members resemble one another. We met Pumpkin, Binky’s brother, Melissa, Jethro’s sister, Shane, Regis’s brother and Loki who may be Chance’s brother. Melissa, like her brother, is a big chimp. Shane is a sweet and gentle as his brother Regis and Loki is a crack-shot spitter like Chance. Pumpkin looks like Binky but has not had an easy time of it in the past few years. He sustained a serious wound to his left side (it may have been a burn inflicted by a fire extinguisher) that he kept picking at until it was massively infected and huge. Dr. Noon has placed Pumpkin on medication to help him have easier days and the self-mutilation has fortunately ended. The scar on his side will be a permanent reminder, however, of his dreadful past.

Gloria and I spent most of the week preparing enrichment. Doing enrichment packages for so many chimpanzees and 80 monkeys took the two of us the whole week! We needed to go shopping to get some toys for them and then to prepare the packages. It takes an unbelievable amount of toys just to give every chimp one small item. This is why when we returned we stated a toy an blanket drive so that when we go back to visit in June we can bring provisions with us.

Seeing the former Coulston Foundation made it even more clear in my mind why research on non-human primates is unethical. We learned that one chimp, Ryan, who threw feces at the laboratory technicians (and anyone else who walked in the unit), was put in a so-called “shed” where gallons of feces were dumped on him in an effort of trying to “teach” him not to throw it anymore. The “sheds” are the infamous areas where chimpanzees died of heat exhaustion. These were horrible little buildings that only housed a few chimpanzees at a time. There was no natural light to speak of, save the little window that was above the food box and no warmth or comfort. These were used primarily when the chimps were infected with infectious diseases.

The main buildings were hardly any better. The singly housed chimps were the most pathetic. Before the skylights were put in, it must have been dark, cold and damp. The walls and floors of each of the cells was cement and not heated. The chimpanzees housed in groups were not in much better shape, though. The paint was old and the rooms barren. One could tell that hardly any money had been invested in the maintenance and upkeep of the “units”.

Fortunately, with enrichment and the care of Dr. Noon’s staff, the chimpanzees are no longer living alone in these cells. They have the care and attention that they deserve. Every morning there is someone greeting them with a caring hello. The rooms are cleaned and fresh food and enrichment is given out. Every night, blankets are passed out so that the chimps can make their beds. It was wonderful to see how well the chimps responded. And I couldn’t help thinking that this was yet another instance of how chimpanzees can teach us the amazing power of forgiveness. And, yet another instance, how the power of one individual can make all the difference. Hats off to Dr. Noon!

The Fauna Foundation

To learn more about the work of the Fauna Foundation visit www.faunafoundation.org/index1.html. Donations are gratefully accepted to continue their humane treatment of chimps that have been (ab)used for biomedical research.

Reproduced with the permission of the Fauna Foundation.