PACE News 2007

From the Director

Last July I cried, but cried for joy. I was overwhelmed. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life. It’s hard to describe how it felt, as I stood outside the newly constructed Chimpanzee Complex at AAP centre for exotic animals, in Holland, and awaited the arrival of a lorry carrying the first batch of infected chimps from the BPRC. They were on their way out of the closed-down chimpanzee complex at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre. Finally free of that stinking place. Free of the cages, the walls, the dark buildings and the padlocked gates, the screams, the moans, the desperate shaking of bars. They were being driven, at government cost, along country roads to start a new life. And I was standing there waiting.

Ono. Photo: M. Seres

This was the first batch of infected chimps to be released – the ones that had been used in HIV, hepatitis, malaria, research at BPRC. You will remember the release of some of the ‘healthy’ ones the year before – to various good zoos or safari parks within Europe. But these 28 chimps that would be arriving at any minute were, to be honest, the unlucky ones, in that because of their infectious status, the Dutch government had insisted that they be kept in high security conditions for the rest of their lives. That meant there was no choice but to keep them behind thick bars. These chimps could never roam in the outdoor freedom of an open sanctuary, because they were pumped full of human viruses. OK, as we know, they don’t get sick. But nevertheless, if a human was to come into too close contact, and there should be an exchange of blood, they would be infectious.

By the doors of the new, purpose-built, state-of-the-art sanctuary complex gathered animal handlers, journalists, sanctuary staff and cameramen. AAP staff wore masks and gloves because of the infectious status of the chimps. There was a distinct air of suspense. This day was so long coming….especially for me! I had waited twelve years for it. It was hard to believe it was actually happening. I had had to cross so many hurdles, at every step of the way. I half expected there to be a last minute hitch and for the whole thing to be called off. And no one had a clear idea what condition the chimps would be in. Would they be aggressive or submissive? Excited or depressed? Strong and in good health or sickly and weak?

But, no. Around about on schedule we heard the sound of a lorry in the distance, getting closer. Slowly it purred its way up the drive towards us. Big, shiny and red, holding the survivors and their memories and secrets of decades of imprisonment inside one of Europe’s most disgusting vivisection hell-holes.

My heart started to beat faster and I felt a rush of adrenalin. I had to pinch myself but it was real. The chimps were out! And here they were. That’s when the lump at the back of my throat started to grow along with the tears. I felt quite alone amongst the journalists, for whom this was just another story of the day, to grab headlines and news time. And amongst the sanctuary staff, some of whom had no idea who the English woman in the crowd was.

The lorry ground to a halt. All was silent. It was a tremendous moment. No one talked. Inside I think we all felt a warmth start to flow through our bodies. But still the question remained – what would we find inside? These chimps had been through it all. Four were wild-caught, in Sierre Leone, over 25 years ago!!!. The others were bred at BPRC. Some had been imprisoned there for many decades. Repeatedly used in viral research, injected with human diseases, again and again. Bloods taken, knocked out with tranquilizers or anaesthetics. Painful biopsy after biopsy. Isolated. Caged in sterile steel-barred 7ft x 5ft cages. Ignored. Separated from loved ones. No freedom, no respect, no protection, no culture. Faceless, like concentration camp inmates.

David van Gennep, Director of AAP, entered the lorry first, followed by a couple of other chimpanzee specialists. About five minutes later, the back doors of the truck swung open and all we could see were a few wooden crates. Again, it was completely silent.

Slowly and carefully, the crates, each with what looked like a single chimpanzee inside, were lifted out of the truck. It was hard to see inside but as they were carried past I could make out faces peering from little bars, inquisitive and quiet. As they were lifted out into the fresh air, that’s when the pant hoots started. The chimps started to get more excited – after all, the journey along windy roads in the dark had stopped and they were being lifted out into the fresh clean air after having lived for years in a hideous, stale, dark building called the Freddie Mercury Building which had no natural light except a small amount that emanated from one skylight in the ceiling.

Fauzi, Huub and Marjo resting outside. Photo: M. Seres

Each crate was placed on a trolley and wheeled inside the new chimpanzee complex. We stayed outside for a while and journalists did their interviews. Then we were invited inside to see the chimps being introduced to their new home. Each indoor area is covered by CCTV so that staff can have 24 hour visual access. We watched the TV screens, as one by one the chimps, slightly ruffled, slightly dazed, slightly frightened, tentatively lollopped out of their crates and into the fresh straw that covered their cosy new indoor sleeping quarters.

And the rest was up to Mike. Mike Seres is an incredible person. Since a young man in his native Hungary, he has worked with chimps and has a special connection with them. His natural ability to understand and communicate with chimps has led him to be invited to help with the socialization of many groups of difficult chimps worldwide, particularly ones from traumatic backgrounds such as in zoos and laboratories. He is now at AAP, his job to enable the group re-socialization process of the BPRC chimps. This means getting to know each as an individual and working with the aim of settling them all in as happily as possible.

The plan was to let the chimps settle down in their indoor quarters for a few days before showing them their outdoor play and exercise areas. All went smoothly and indeed that’s what happened. Sadly, I wasn’t there to witness the incredible moment when the chimps were let outdoors. For some that was the first time they had been able to soak up natural daylight in over 25 years. But, all but one chimp, Maja, had the self-confidence to venture out into the great unknown without too much trouble. Maja, though, the oldest chimp of them all, wild-caught in the jungle of Sierra Leone, still suffers terribly from her past traumas and is not very able to adapt to life with the others. Imagine, for Maja, being torn as a baby from her mother one day, never to see her or the others in her group again, and transported in a small, stinking crate to Holland where she was used for over 30 years in experiments and kept, often in isolation, in a dark building. I always find it incredible that these chimps survive at all!

A YEAR LATER…..

It is now a year and a half since the last PACE News! Why have I left it so long to tell you this tale? Well, in the meantime I’ve had a baby - and so, for the last year, I have rather had my hands full!

Oscar extracting nuts and pellets. Photo: M. Seres

But over in Holland, at AAP with the chimps, David, Mike and the others have been keeping us in touch and filling us in at PACE on how our beloved BPRC friends are doing. The great news is that they are doing really well! The 28 infected chimps that are there are separated into six groups, depending on who they like to be near. Group A is just Noah and Oscar, getting on well together most of the time and even grooming and playing now, which neither did at BPRC!

Noah busy with see-through tire. Photo: M. Seres

Group B is bigger, with Bie, Tijs, Eric and Zeef. This group of boys works well, apart from the occasional minor conflict, but nothing serious. Most of the time they groom one another, even all four at once, which is a lovely scene, according to Mike.

Group C is extremely relaxed, containing Laurens, Bull, Ono and Maja - they play a lot and are a great group to just sit and observe. Maja, as mentioned earlier, does have behavioural problems and likes to keep herself to herself. She spends a lot of her time resting, cuddled up in a nest she makes with her favourite blanket. But she is well loved by the others.

Ono gets peanuts from a ball. Photo: M. Seres

Group D contains Ton, Marcel, Peggy-Sue, Phyl and Femma. The two males, Ton and Marcel, are very close. They often play-wrestle and chase each other around while laughing and tickling. The three females do argue a bit and occasionally take it out on the boys, but then the problems always get solved as quickly as they started. Phyl is still a bit shy and stubborn and refuses to go inside at night sometimes but the other chimps in this group are great at cooperating! So, again, this is a lovely group to sit and watch as they bask in the patches of natural light.

The fifth group, E, is the largest group and is made up of Huub, Joost, Fauzi, Fuad, Sylvia, Marjo and Karlien. Huub is in charge and apparently makes a pretty good but strict leader! Joost is second in command, and is trying to become first, but since he is a bit of a ‘bully’, he’s not popular with the others. Under Huub’s smart leadership, the group is keeping Joost in second position. Very little - if any, injuries occur - not like at BPRC where they had multiple bite wounds and slashes due to the cramped living quarters. This is an impressive group to watch, especially if they march outside or get involved in multiple grooming sessions!

The last group, G, contains Tomas, Juus, Zorro, Kenny, Willy and Iris. It works well and all the chimps are kept busy with the extra enrichment they are given, but it’s the group with the more disturbed chimps in it. Because of this, the group is observed most closely, given more enrichment than the others, needs more veterinary care and is allocated extra space. Iris is the chimp with the most unsettled behaviour, suffering from both physical and psychological weakness. These sad six are the “BPRC 6” as we called them – the 6 last ever chimps ever to be used in an experiment in Europe – one that involved infection with live hepatitis C virus. We tried so hard to get that stupid experiment stopped! It was given the go-ahead by the Dutch government even though it took place at BPRC after the national ban had been agreed!!!

Bull in his nest. Photo: M. Seres

Iris needs a lot of extra attention and Kenny, too, has behavioural problems. In fact, all the chimps in this group except Willy and Juus, have a history of rocking, as well as regurgitation and reingestion of their food. Although it is seen as ‘abnormal behaviour’, in fact, according to Mike, regurgitation and reingestion is fairly common in captivity, especially in chimps who had to endure laboratory conditions. Even so, it is tragic that this wasteful experiment was ever given the go-ahead – against public and media opinion – and resulted in the tainted lives of the six chimps in Group G. And do we have a vaccine against hepatitis C as a result? Do we hell!

In summary, the vast majority of the infected BPRC chimps are well and mentally quite strong. They have settled in beautifully and spend their days playing, grooming, displaying and just behaving like well cared for captive chimps. According to AAP Director, David, the quiet, submissive chimps that arrived in the lorry that July day, have become burly, vocal, playful and sociable apes, making full use of their enclosures, climbing the fences, sitting on their high platforms and fishing for nice food placed strategically outside their enclosures on feeding tables!! Since arriving they have lost fat, gained muscle and generally improved physically.

Bull working on pellet balls. Photo: M. Seres

So, to close, shall we say this story has a happy ending? I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I am so, so glad that forces came together when they did and that that truly evil, horrendous pit of a place called the BPRC chimpanzee facility, is dead and buried. And that the poor survivors of our ignorance and cruelty have finally been given some of the respect and dignity that they deserve by being re-homed for their remaining time on this earth in a government-funded sanctuary.

But, looking back over the three decades, over the years since the mid-Seventies when the first huge group of wild chimps was captured in the Sierre Leonian rainforests - babies, snatched from dead mothers and fathers and brothers who had gone to their defense only to be shot themselves – and crated up and sent over here to face an isolated life in a steel cage measuring 7 ft x 5 ft x 5t …. We can in no sense look upon this as anything other than a terrible tragedy of enormous proportions. And even if the few survivors are finally being well treated, what of the thousands of chimpanzees that died and suffered in the process of getting to where we are today? Chimps that could have lived full and exciting lives in the forests of West Africa, in family groups and tribes. Chimps that would have enjoyed the natural pleasures of making nests to sleep in at night up at the tops of trees. Or of bearing children and raising them and all the joys that brings. Or of watching a sunset, hunting for food or napping in the equatorial sun.

A Survivor: Maja sleeping in blanket-nest at AAP. Photo: M. Seres

There are many human survivors of the Nazi holocaust. Some are having their family heirlooms returned by the Germans who, soused in shame and guilt, are doing what they can to neutralize the debt. But this doesn’t mean the crimes of their predecessors are any more palatable. Let’s not forget what we as a species, as Westerners, did to the wild chimpanzees that lived in Africa in the 1970s. We reduced their numbers from 1 million to 150,000 over three decades. We tortured and killed them with little public condemnation, just so we could look for medicines to cure human diseases, travel to the moon, transplant organs from the dead to the living and gape at them in zoos. And despite the pain and agony that we created for those fantastic near cousins of ours, what do we have to show for it? No cure for or vaccine neither against AIDS, nor for hepatitis, malaria, schistosomiasis or any of the other sicknesses we tried to abolish by sacrificing the chimps. We could have got to the moon without sacrificing chimps first. And what do we learn by staring at a stranded creature in a concrete zoo enclosure? So let’s not congratulate ourselves that the BPRC story has a happy ending. It doesn’t really. The chimps now rescued from that BPRC hellhole are still behind bars, it’s just that the spaces inside the bars are bigger. They still depend on humans for their food and shelter. They still have no freedom, no culture, and no true chimp identities. And what memories do they foster? What fears remain in their innocent souls? Will they ever recover from their lives of torture? Of course not. And we must remember that. Like we must remember the holocaust. So that we make sure that it is never allowed to happen again.

Janie Reynolds

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