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A R T I C L E S
The Tribune, August 22, 2000Chimp Sanctuary Breaks Ground by Jason Geary Ft. Pierce Tribune FORT PIERCE A secluded tract of land located near Header Canal Road will soon be home to some retiring supporters of the U.S. space program. Thursday afternoon, Save the Chimps held its official groundbreaking for a chimpanzee sanctuary to be built for 21 descendants and companions of the Air Force's "space chimps. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Air Force used chimpanzees to help research the effects of space travel on humans. Three chimps were even trained for space travel including Ham, who entered space on Jan. 31, 1961, and Enos, who completed two orbits of Earth on Nov. 29, 1961. During her ceremony remarks, Carole Noon, director of Save the Chimps, thanked the advocates and groups who have helped with the sanctuary project. She gave special recognition to The Arcus Foundation for providing a matching grant for the development of the sanctuary and the Doris Day Animal League, a non-profit lobbying organization, for helping Save the Chimps obtain custody of the 21 chimpanzees. While gesturing to the mounds of dirt in the distance, Noon said, "We call this a groundbreaking, but the ground has already been broken." The mounds indicate the land clearing already under way for phase one of the planned sanctuary. Upon completion, this stage of the project will house the 21 chimpanzees and encompass approximately six acres of the total 150 acres that the non-profit organization has purchased. If Save the Chimps expands to more of the available land, Noon says it could eventually hold as many as 150 to 200 chimpanzees. Elements of phase one will include a research center for administrative facilities and an introduction building where the chimpanzees will be brought initially to begin socialization with each other. Once they have formed groups, the chimps will be moved to group housing complexes connected by a land bridge to an island surrounded by a lake. The chimps can then move freely around the group housing buildings or out to the island. Phase one of the sanctuary is expected to cost $1.4 million and operating costs are estimated at approximately $250,000 a year. A crew of five employees will feed and monitor the chimps. Although Save the Chimps does not wish to disturb the chimpanzees in their new environment, it is considering a proposition to allow the placement of close circuit television cameras for researchers to observe them. "The idea is to let them be chimps again," Noon explained. In June 1997, the Air Force announced it would use a public divestiture to give its chimpanzees to either research laboratories or retire them to sanctuaries. The Air Force then gave 111 of its chimpanzees to the Coulston Foundation, a research facility in Alamogordo, N.M., that has been accused by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of violations against the Animal Welfare Act. According to Noon, Save the Chimps sued the Air Force for releasing the chimpanzees to the Coulston Foundation. After the research facility agreed on a settlement that included a concession to give 21 chimpanzees to Save the Chimps, the legal action against the Air Force was dropped. Karen Schneider, director of development for Save the Chimps, says the chimpanzees will be brought to St. Lucie County as soon as the introduction building and group housing is completed perhaps as early as October or late November. | |||||||||||||||
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