In an effort to establish cost-effective ‘retirement’ facilities for hundreds of chimpanzees no longer needed for biomedical research, new legislation introduced in the US Congress would establish a nationwide network of sanctuaries supported by a combination of government and private funds.

But National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials are concerned that the specificity of the new legislation will restrict their flexibility in developing an effective sanctuary strategy, and are also dismayed that they were not consulted or asked about plans they have been developing since 1998—the Chimpanzee Maintenance Plan (ChiMP)—to establish long-term chimp housing.

Conserving acronyms, the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection (CHIMP) Act has been introduced by Congressman James Greenwood (R-PA). Under the bill, sanctuaries would be set up by an independent contractor chosen by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency that oversees the NIH. Of the HHS budget, $30 million would be set aside to establish and maintain the sanctuaries, and the contractor would have to obtain 10% of the funding for construction and 25% of the funding for operation of the facilities from private sources.

As a result of an aggressive breeding program in the late 1980s, the US now has a large surplus of chimps, which can live 40–50 years. Chimpanzees no longer needed for research are now maintained in laboratory animal facilities, costing the government $7.5 million annually. Sanctuaries, where larger groups of chimps are kept in more natural settings, are considered more humane and less expensive to operate. Public hearings on the Greenwood legislation are planned for the early part of this year.