Megan is a 22 year-old chimpanzee—and just one of the hundreds of chimpanzees who is kept at the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana, the world’s largest chimpanzee laboratory. Following our 2009 undercover investigation at New Iberia—during which we discovered dismal conditions for the chimpanzees and other primates living there—we received additional public records that uncovered horrific infant deaths as well as potentially illegal breeding at the facility.
Seeking Justice for Chimpanzees
On March 15, 2011, in an effort to bring New Iberia to justice and have any infants bred illegally sent to sanctuary, we filed legal petitions with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
Megan is just one of the government-owned chimpanzees at New Iberia who gave birth to several babies despite a contractual agreement that the laboratory won’t breed government- owned or supported chimpanzees. If successful, our petitions could help to free Megan and her babies from the confinements of the lab. But with your help, Megan, along with her group of eight companions could all be saved sooner.
Please help retire Megan and the other chimpanzees in her group to sanctuary.
Babies Taken Away
Until several months ago, Megan was part of a program called the Cognitive Evolution Group (CEG), which involved experiments designed to test chimpanzee intelligence or understanding. While in the group, she gave birth to at least five infants—only one of whom she was allowed to keep. Laboratory records suggest that the other four babies were taken from her. At least one of the babies was sent to another laboratory for use in experiments pursuant to a multi-million dollar contract that New Iberia has with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to produce “four to twelve disease- free infants per year.” The father of all of her babies is the lone adult male in her group, Apollo.
Last year, we were informed that the CEG program ended and New Iberia was deciding whether to retire the chimpanzees to sanctuary or keep them in the laboratory and add them to the population of chimpanzees who can be used in harmful research. This is why it’s so important that you take action to help Megan and her companions now.
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