(8/7/98)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's ``astro chimps'' are being mustered out of the Air Force.
Most will be given to a New Mexico foundation for scientific research in a decision that upset some chimpanzee researchers.
The Air Force announced Thursday that the chimpanzee troop originally organized to help put America into space was being divided between the Coulston Foundation of Alamogordo, N.M., and an animal sanctuary.
Coulston, which has operated the Air Force research ape facility at Holoman Air Force Base since 1993, will receive 111 of the 141 ``space chimps.'' Company officials said the animals will be used for medical research, including studies into Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and arthritis, and for breeding.
The decision was denounced by animal rights activists, because the firm has been fined for violating animal care standards and now is being investigated for a second, similar complaint. Coulston was found in violation of animal care regulations in 1993 after three chimps in the company's care died. The company was subject to another ``adverse finding'' after two chimpanzees died in recent months, Coulston spokesman Don McKinney said.
Thirty of the Air Force troop will be retired to Primarily Primates, a large animal sanctuary in San Antonio.
Some animal rights activists said they were appalled that most of the Air Force chimps were going to Coulston instead of to organizations that would retire the animals without subjecting them to further research.
Jane Goodall, a famed chimpanzee researcher, was ``shocked and saddened that the Air Force awarded the majority of the chimps to Coulston,'' the Jane Goodall Institute said in a statement.
``It amazes me that the Air Force would ignore the voices of so many who want these chimpanzees retired and, instead, sentence them to a life of fear, pain and loneliness in an establishment well known for its inability to care for chimpanzees,'' Goodall said.
Officials for another animal activist organization, called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, said they are sending a letter to the Air Force offering to humanely kill the 111 Coulston chimps to spare the animals a life of experimentation.
``The chimpanzees are better off dead than condemned to be infected with disease and used in experimental surgeries in a New Mexico hell hole,'' Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, said in a statement.
Air Force Col. Jack Blackhurst said Coulston and Primarily Primates were selected from among four organizations that had bid to take possession of the chimpanzees. The Air Force examined Coulston's record of animal care inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and concluded ``it did as well or better than the other chimpanzee facilities in the country,'' he said.
A number of people, including some astronauts, had urged the Air Force to retire the animals instead of subjecting them to further research.
The apes are descendants or companions of Ham, the first chimpanzee to fly in space, and of Enos, the first chimp to orbit the Earth. Some were used in early jet airplane research, developing such equipment as ejection seats. In more recent years, more than half of the animals were used in AIDS and hepatitis experiments. Some still are considered diseased.
None of the surviving 141 animals in the ``space chimp'' troop was ever launched into space, said Blackhurst. Minnie, the last surviving chimp from the space program's early days, died in March at age 41. She had been the back-up for Ham and Enos.
None of the 30 animals going to the San Antonio sanctuary had been used in medical tests, he said. Most of them are older, with an average age of 27. All but five are female.
Chimpanzees can live up to 50 years, and some of the animals are younger than 10.
Army Lt. Col. Denver Marlow, a veterinarian, said 77 of the animals have been exposed to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, or to hepatitis, and they must now be considered infectious.
The 111 animals will be among more than 650 chimps that Coulston has under its care, McKinney said.
James Joseph Kelly IV, Head Chimp, was not available for comment.