Open Statement from Primarily Primates, Regarding Kermit and the Chimpanzees Formerly the Property of Ohio State University

For Immediate Release: 14 March 2006

I wish to reply to a number of statements I have seen circulated about Primarily Primates. These statements, which contain a number of false accusations, emanate from individuals within the animal research community and from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (“PeTA”).

Who We Are

First, a word of introduction. Including the chimpanzees recently transferred from the Ohio State University, Primarily Primates (PPI) provides lifetime care for more than 70 chimpanzees, from youngsters up to age 60, and other animals, including over 450 other primates.  Some have lived here since 1978, the year of our inception.  Our first chimpanzee, Rudy, arrived in 1983, and is alive and thriving today.

Last year, Primarily Primates spent over $22,000 on fruit and produce for monkeys and apes; much more was donated. Individual donors annually send in several thousand "treat tubes" filled with items such as granola for all of our primates.  Primarily Primates uses seven (7) veterinarians of various areas of expertise in or near San Antonio.  Another veterinarian heads our Advisory Board.  Primarily Primates has a full and active board of directors who have met twice since December. 

Since the enactment of the CHIMP Act, which essentially promotes public funding for the warehousing of nonhuman apes while keeping them under full legal control of the National Institutes of Health, less attention and support is coming to PPI. This has been exacerbated by the unconscionable acts of 2001 and two devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita. The  bulk of the funding is, as expected, going to high-profile humane groups. The public's capacity for supporting direct assistance to animals has never been more stretched.  Nevertheless, through the steadfast, continual support of 18,000 donors, and the occasional will or foundation grant, which is a welcome blessing that is often used to make improvements, PPI remains financially viable. Our books are audited annually by a certified public accountant, and our 2006 income is expected to exceed one million dollars. 

Primarily Primates does not breed, sell or trade animals, or agree to otherwise use animals commercially in any way. Nor do we parade our animals before the public in the interest of having them earn their keep, for which they owe us nothing. We value their privacy and our sanctuary is not open to the public.  Since our founding we have saved the lives of thousands of animals who had no place else to go.  Many of our primates have led horrible lives, used in some of the most frightening experiments imaginable.  Here they can live out the rest of their lives in peace. We believe firmly in maintaining the distinction between sanctuaries and zoos.

On USDA Regulation

Nevertheless, some parties have expressed their opinions that PPI should be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA is charged with enforcing the Animal Welfare Act; however, the same Department also experiments on animals and oversees the killing and marketing of animals. In short, the USDA's primary function with regard to animals is the regulating and facilitating their use.

Primarily Primates is not licensed by the USDA. Nor are many other animal sanctuaries. Three other animal sanctuaries in South Texas who keep primates are unregulated or only partially regulated. USDA licensing is unnecessary insofar as a sanctuary is not involved in regulated uses such as exhibiting, breeding, or trading animals, or connected with entities which carry out such uses.

With so many U.S. breeders, dealers, users, and processors of animals in operation, including those who use animals for research, there are nowhere near enough USDA agents to cover the task of inspecting animal use entities. We will not ask to stretch such people further. Nevertheless, the local USDA field agent does visit frequently, and last visited just this past week.  A representative from the Jane Goodall Institute also visited in late 2005.  Jane Goodall visited in 2003.  None of these visits resulted in concerns for the care and housing Primarily Primates provides.  Private tours can be arranged, by appointment.  We are not obliged to provide tours that are not in the best interest of PPI and its nonhuman inhabitants.

And that brings me to a key concern that some members of the animal advocacy community have expressed: Why would PeTA take a public position critical of Primarily Primates? One reason involves a disparity of basic philosophy. We take a “no-kill” view of advocacy. In a fair world, primates and all conscious individual animals would have a protected interest in living. We believe it's important to model that fair world today.

PeTA takes a different view. PeTA is based in Virginia , and presumably has substantial contacts there; and yet the Virginia State Veterinarian reports that two animals died in the group's “facilities” this past year; and moreover in the past year PeTA itself killed 1,946 pet animals, while transferring or adopting out only 215. PeTA also killed 141 wild animals in 2005, versus only 52 animals whom its employees transferred or released.* These figures include only the deaths in PeTA's home state over a one-year period.  

On the Transfer and Loss of Kermit

We work in the interest of allowing animals to live out their lives. Even with the best of intentions, however, problems resulting from administering anaesthesia to animals is an unfortunate reality wherever animals live in or are transferred among human settings, including sanctuaries.

Recently, that reality tragically visited us in the form of the death of Kermit, a chimpanzee who died in  the circumstances of being transferred from Ohio State University , which kept chimpanzees for cognition experiments. 

Animal deaths related to anaesthesia have occurred at three other animal sanctuaries in South Texas, including that of a monkey who died under similar circumstances just last month. But that doesn't lessen our concern here and now. Kermit's death was very sad for all of us, and it is understandable that the news is of concern to anyone involved in the care of nonhuman animals, particularly the care of primates.

The transfer of Kermit and the rest of the OSU chimpanzees has been planned months in advance.  According to the University, chimpanzee researcher Sally Boysen had not been able to obtain grants.  After numerous warnings, the University decided it had reached its limit, as its costs were approximately one million dollars each year to house and care for the chimpanzees and to support the research of which they were subjects.  It was in this context that Primarily Primates stepped forward to accept the chimpanzees. 

Many people visited and inspected our sanctuary prior to the agreement, including OSU representatives and OSU veterinarians, and Dr. Butler, who built a reputation for knowledge of chimpanzee care during a long tenure at the Southwest Foundation in San Antonio .

We completed new construction prior to the transfer. Outdoor enclosures will be finished in another few weeks. 

Dr. Vice, who was on site and administering veterinary medical care for the OSU chimpanzees during their transfer from the truck to their enclosures, has spent over 25 years providing care for our primates.  Dr. Vice's veterinary medical credits and degrees are extensive; he has also worked for the San Antonio Zoo and Southwest Foundation. 

The results of Kermit's necropsy will be made publicly available in another week.  Dr. Vice will also issue a statement.  If an error was made, we will admit it.  Kermit's health might have been somewhat compromised, however, prior to his arrival.

The surviving OSU chimps will no longer be used for research. Their new enclosures are already 4 times larger than they had at the lab; and when our outdoor extensions facilities are finished in another few weeks, they will be 8 times larger.  Here they will be socialized in groups, as their personalities and past training permit.  This is the first time they have been allowed to experience life in a group.  They will have a 17-foot high climbing structure for exercise and exploration.

Conclusion

Chimpanzees and other primates are not ours to capture, breed, or use.  We should never deny them their families and natural habitats regardless of any attempt to justify it for human objectives. This is true even if what's obtained might provide evidence to buttress the moral imperative for respecting their freedom.  We share this view with, and have respectful working relationships with, several U.S. animal rights groups.  We support the cause of animal rights, as we have for decades, and look forward to the day that primates are respected for their interests in living in their own habitat, free of human intervention. On that day, primates will no longer be thought of as suitable for placement in labs, just as they won't be thought suitable as spectacles in zoos or circuses. They'll never have to die in captivity as they'll never have to live in it.

Until that day, by the kindness and grace of our supporters, we'll do our best to provide our residents the best of health and our love.

Wally Swett, President
Primarily Primates
26099 Dull Knife Trail
San Antonio , TX 78255
* Commonwealth of Virginia , Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Online Animal Reporting (2005). Available: http://tinyurl.com/q4zdj