San Francisco
CHIMPANZEES whose ancestors helped NASA put men on the Moon are having a
bumpy ride into civilian life.
The US Air Force plans to give away the chimp colony, founded in the 1950s
for space research. But animal welfare groups that hope to acquire the chimps
claim that the bidding process is unfair because a foundation that now has the
animals is withholding key information about their health. The controversy could
further delay the chimp handover, which bureaucratic snags have already pushed
back four months beyond its original settlement date of 6 October (This Week, 28
June, p 5).
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The 144 chimps, mostly housed at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico,
include the descendants of animals that flew in space before the first American
astronauts were put into orbit. The USAF has not used the chimps since the
1970s, but it has leased them to other researchers, mostly for medical research.
In 1995, Congress ordered the USAF to get rid of the chimps and open a
competitive bidding process. While there is no charge for the chimps, bidders
must prove they have the resources and expertise to care for the animals. But
some groups say that this is difficult when they know little about the animals
other than their names and ages.
鈥淲e鈥檙e being asked to raise millions of dollars for animals that we鈥檝e never
seen and know nothing about,鈥� says Eric Kleiman, research director with the
animal rights group In Defense of Animals in Mill Valley, California. Kleiman
and others say they want full health reports, including current behavioural
profiles and the infectious status of each colony member.
鈥淭he medical records we have don鈥檛 contain all these specific details,鈥� says
Lieutenant Colonel Denver Marlowe, a veterinary surgeon who oversees the USAF鈥檚
animal research. That information, he says, is held by the Coulston Foundation,
which currently leases the chimps and conducts AIDS and hepatitis research on
primates. The foundation鈥檚 animal welfare record has come under attack from
Kleiman鈥檚 group and other animal advocates.
But Don McKinney, communications director for Coulston, claims the
information requests are an attempt to spy on the foundation鈥檚 private business.
He says that any serious contender should be prepared to hold the animals they
acquire in quarantine and perform their own tests for infections.
McKinney adds that the foundation is interested in submitting a proposal of
its own to permanently acquire the colony, which their opponents say presents a
clear conflict of interest. 鈥淚n no sense is this a level playing field,鈥� says
Kleiman.
But Marlowe insists that all the bidders have been provided with sufficient
data. 鈥淭he information typically available on the transfer of primates is the
sort we鈥檝e already provided,鈥� he says.