Alamogordo, New Mexico (CNN) -- Shortly after her birth, Moesha was taken away from her mother and sent to a laboratory for a life of medical testing.
Like the 265 other
chimpanzees at the Coulston Foundation's facility in Alamogordo, New
Mexico, Moesha would be poked and prodded in the name of medical
research. Moesha was one of the lucky ones: She survived. Others were
not so fortunate. Three chimpanzees housed at the Coulston Foundation
were literally cooked to death when their enclosures heated to 140
degrees Fahrenheit.
When federal authorities found out about the facility's mistreatment of these animals, it lost its funding and went bankrupt.
That's when a team of animal welfare experts stepped in and changed these chimpanzees' lives forever.
With the help of a $3.7
million grant, the Save the Chimps organization purchased the facility
in 2002 and transformed it into the world's largest sanctuary for
chimpanzees. It would serve as temporary housing for the chimps until
the organization could create a more permanent outdoor sanctuary in
Florida.
But first, Moesha and the
others -- isolated for most of their lives -- would have to learn how
to live as family units. And that process would take nearly a decade of
rehabilitation.
Learning to become chimps again
One of the first
priorities in rehabilitating the chimps was modifying their cages, known
by the Save the Chimps team as "the dungeon." This gray, concrete
structure housed 54 chimpanzees, most of them crammed into small,
individual cages. The cages where the rest of the chimpanzees were
housed weren't much bigger but they shared the space with another animal
or two.
"It was six months of
cutting doors into six-inch thick concrete walls so that chimps could
actually see each other for the first time and meet each other for the
first time," said Save the Chimps sanctuary director Jennifer
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Even with the new doors
and skylights, the dungeon still had a dark feel to it, and resembled a
concrete block of prison cells. Once the buildings were modified, the
care of the animals became routine and the team began to slowly create
diverse family groups for the chimps.
"The ultimate goal was
forming family groups of 20 to 25 chimpanzees," explained Feuerstein,
"We did it by introducing one chimpanzee at a time, so we're talking
over the past 10 years thousands of thousands of introductions."
Meet one of the oldest chimpanzees in captivity
For Moesha and many of
the other chimps, this was a completely new experience. Moesha would
rock back and forth and often scream for no apparent reason. She was
pale, balding and anxious when Save the Chimps took over the facility.
Moesha was immediately introduced to another chimpanzee, Alari, and soon
after bonding with her, Moesha was introduced into a chimpanzee family.
Her hair has since thickened and her skin darkened from the sunlight
that peeked through the bars in her newly improved cage.
Feuerstein said it took a while for the chimpanzees to get used to each other. Some groups took up to a year to form.
"When a family was ready
and an island was ready, then we would migrate a group to Florida," she
said. "Eleven groups were formed and migrated over a period of six
years. We started doing large scale migrations in 2005, 2006."
Chimpanzees as medical test subjects
The United States is one
of two remaining countries -- the other being Gabon -- that legally
allow chimps and other great apes to be used in invasive biomedical
research, according to the Humane Society
of the United States. However, other countries still contract the
services of research centers that use chimps, according to Dr. Thomas
Rowell Director of the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana.
There are more than 930 chimpanzees at U.S. medical research facilities, most of them used for hepatitis testing, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine issued in December.
The report stated that chimpanzees are not necessary for most
biomedical research. The institute recognized two possible uses for
chimps: one for cancerous tumors that are already part of ongoing
investigations, and the other for a hepatitis C vaccine.
A panel of experts
advising the National Institutes of Health on how to implement the the
Institute of Medicine's report is expected to issue its recommendations
by the end of the year.
Read more about the Institute of Medicine report
A bill that would end
invasive research on chimps and other great apes has been before
Congress since 2008, reintroduced in subsequent years, most recently as
the the "Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act of 2011." There is no timetable for Congress to consider the bill.
Frederick Coulston began
using chimpanzees for toxicology tests in the 1940s at Holloman Air
Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Coulston, who died in 2003 at age
89, helped develop hepatitis vaccines and spent years working on a
vaccine for AIDS, according to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
But the use of chimpanzees in his research made him a target of animal
welfare advocates.
In 1993, he established
the Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo -- considered the largest
chimpanzee laboratory in the world -- where he carried out his research
on chimps and loaned them out to other laboratories, with the help of
government funding. The facility was cited numerous times for violating
the Animal Welfare Act and federal funding was withdrawn, forcing it to
close in 2002.
That year, Coulston
reached out to Save the Chimps founder Dr. Carole Noon, offering to sell
the laboratory and donate all 266 chimpanzees to the organization,
according to Save the Chimps. Nine years later, the chimps were ready to
move from the former laboratory to the outdoor sanctuary in Florida.
Getting ready for the journey
Peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches are handed out to Moesha and her family as they get ready for
the 2,000-mile cross-country journey.
Moesha is one of the
final 10 chimps heading to the sanctuary in Fort Pierce: 150 acres of
former orange groves, transformed into islands where the chimpanzees
will be permanently retired.
The islands keep the chimpanzees, who are afraid of water, on the property without the need for fencing.
It will be their first time living outdoors.
Before the specially
designed trailer carrying the final 10 chimps departs New Mexico, tears
fill the eyes of the Save the Chimps staff as they say goodbye.
The chimps are wheeled onto the trailer in small, single cages near the members of their family units.
Each chimpanzee has a window seat.
It is after dark when Alari, the last chimpanzee, is loaded into the trailer. She is placed next to Moesha and across from Taz.
As the staff takes
pictures and says their goodbyes, high-pitched hoots and screams can be
heard outside the trailer, which the chimpanzees aggressively rock.
This behavior is barely
noticed; it is no different from the past 26 times workers have loaded a
group of chimpanzees destined for Florida.
But this trip is
different and Feuerstein's thoughts are on the Save the Chimps founder,
who passed away before the "Great Chimp Migration" could come to a happy
end.
"I wish Carole Noon was here. She started it. All this was her project. This was her dream," Feuerstein said.
As the truck pulling the
trailer slowly drives out of the gate, a crowd of former and current
employees gives a loud cheer. The last of the Coulston chimpanzees is
heading for a new life far away from the former research facility.
Back to nature
The 2,000-mile road trip
will take a day and a half, because of frequent stops to check on the
chimpanzees. They are fed fruits and juice and medicine is administered.
Moesha, Alari and Sarah are on birth control pills and Bart, Alari and
Brody are given medicine for anxiety.
When the trailer arrives in Fort Pierce, Florida, the chimps are greeted by a cheering crowd of workers and volunteers.
After being reunited
with the other nine members of their family that arrived ahead of them,
Moesha and her traveling companions are let out onto the island.
It's the first time these chimpanzees have felt grass under their feet and direct sunlight on their skin.
Feuerstein recalls how far Moesha has progressed over the past decade.
"Moesha is amazing,"
said Feuerstein, with the emotion of a proud mother. "When she first
came, she was the most scared, timid chimp."
Showing no fear of her
new surroundings, Moesha --- unlike her other family members --
confidently walks across the grass to the middle of the island.
There she sat for a few minutes, taking in her new green surroundings, soaking up the kind of life she never knew existed.
Via CNN