The National Institute of Health (NIH) has announced that it will retire the remaining chimpanzees in its facilities to special sanctuaries starting this year.
This announcement marks the end of the government agency's test programs on these animals, ABC News reported.
Currently, there are about 300 chimps in NIH's laboratories and other facilities. These animals were subjected to various testing and research procedures and of them were intentionally infected with various diseases including HIV and hepatitis for medical and scientific purposes.
Originally, the agency had 310 chimpanzees under its care and six of them were already placed in the Chimp Haven sanctuary in 2013 as part of their retirement. Some of them, however, died before they were allowed to retire.
Since then, various groups have been urging the NIH to turn over its remaining chimpanzee test subjects to the sanctuary. However, the agency maintained that it will only do so after it had selected the 50 chimpanzees that will remain in its facilities for special or emergency research purposes. NIH noted that the selection process could take several years.
But, in a recent statement released by the agency, the NIH explained that due to several factors, including the designation of chimpanzees as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it will no longer delay the retirement of the animals. In addition, the agency went back on its previous decision to keep 50 test chimps.
"As a result of these numerous changes over the last few years and the significantly reduced demand for chimpanzees in NIH-supported biomedical research, it is clear that we've reached a tipping point," NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins stated.
"In accordance with the NIH's commitment in June 2013, I have reassessed the need to maintain chimpanzees for biomedical research and decided that effective immediately, NIH will no longer maintain a colony of 50 chimpanzees for future research," he continued. "All NIH-owned chimpanzees that reside outside the Federal Sanctuary System operated by Chimp Haven, Keithville, Louisiana, are now eligible for retirement."
The exact date regarding the official retirement of the first batch of chimpanzees has not yet been set but according to Cathy Spraetz, the director of Chimp Haven, the NIH will turn over the first group of animals before this year ends, CNN has learned.
As noted by the government agency, its decision and announcement only apply to the chimpanzees. Tests and research procedures on other non-human primates will still continue under the supervision of the NIH.
