OPINION: It's time to finally move 26 research chimpanzees to a sanctuary

Right now there are 26 chimpanzees being held at the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) on Holloman Air Force Base, in direct contradiction to the congressionally mandated Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (CHIMP) Act.

Despite sustained bipartisan efforts by myself, New Mexico Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich and our Louisiana senators, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is responsible for these chimps, refuses to comply with the clear intent and letter of the law and to move these animals to a sanctuary.

In fact, in 2022 U.S. District Judge Lydia Griggsby handed down a court decision concluding that NIH’s refusal to retire the chimps to a 200-acre sanctuary in Louisiana violated federal law. There is no more time to wait.

The CHIMP Act is clear. The federal government must provide care for these animals used for research by federal agencies, and the Chimp Haven is Home Act further prohibits return of chimps to research environments.

Importantly, since the NIH announced that the agency would no longer fund invasive chimpanzee research in 2015, numerous chimps have been safely transported to sanctuaries.

However, these 26 chimps in Alamogordo remain and are, arguably, no closer to going to a safe sanctuary than they were in 2000.

How is this possible? Why is the NIH fighting this legal and moral mandate?

I join my fellow New Mexicans in demanding the NIH release and move these animals safely and quickly to the Chimp Haven sanctuary to live out the remainder of their lives.

No more unlawful delays. No more needless — and costly — cruelty. Enough is enough.

It is time to do the right thing for these animals that have suffered a lifetime, move them to Chimp Haven.