Plans to house these research chimps have collapsed. Credit: Courtesy: Primadomus

Research chimpanzees from a Dutch laboratory are looking for a new home, after plans to move the animals to a Spanish village fell through earlier this year.

The Dutch government finalized plans to hand over 63 chimpanzees from the Biomedical Primate Research Center in Rijswijk to the charity Stichting AAP after the government in 2002 banned use of the animals for research (Nat. Med. 9, 981; 2003). The AAP placed 30 chimps, infected with the hepatitis C and simian immunodeficiency viruses, at a 9,000-square-meter facility near its headquarters. The remaining 33, which are uninfected, were to live in four chimp enclosures on a 45-hectare zone in Relleu, a village of 1,000 on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

After agreeing to the project in 2002, Relleu's mayor, Santiago Cantó, reversed his decision in March 2004, citing “social alarm” about noises, odors and the risk of infectious diseases from the chimps.

The AAP's Jack Drenthe says entrepreneurs interested in building tourist facilities at the site misled Relleu's citizens about the risks and handed them newspaper clips about the risk of contracting the Ebola virus by eating ape flesh.

The AAP is still asking Cantó to honor the contract, but the mayor's decision is unlikely to change, says Vicente Urios, a zoologist at nearby University of Alicante. A visit in July by noted primatologist Jane Goodall had little effect, nor did statements of support from Spanish universities, Spain's Royal House and the European Commission. Cantó declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the AAP is considering whether to sue Cantó for the financial costs—about €1 million—incurred thus far, and is searching for an alternative site to house the chimps. The charity has received offers from sites in Italy and Austria and from Galicia in northwest Spain, Drenthe says, but prefers to remain in the Valencia region to avoid duplicating the paperwork for veterinarian and other authorizations.

One candidate is the animal theme park Terra Natura in nearby Benidorm. The park is not a practical long-term solution, but might serve as a temporary site until either the AAP finds another location, or Cantó loses the next election, says Drenthe.

The animals are supposed to be euthanized if they are not housed by June 2005, but Drenthe says public pressure is likely to help extend the deadline.