Retiring in Style : Nine Laboratory Chimpanzees Move to a Roomier Life at Wildlife Center

For most of their lives they had served science, primarily as test animals for researchers developing hepatitis vaccinations.

But on Monday, the nine old chimpanzees entered a life of retirement in the hills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

They also face an unusual challenge, a test that is perhaps more daunting than those they endured while housed at the New York University School of Medicine. After being isolated in cages for so many years, the chimpanzees will have a chance to finally run free--and have to learn how to socialize with their own kind. In short, they will have to learn what it’s like to be chimps again.

“They’ve been deprived, for so many years, of social contact with each other, because of the nature of the testing we’ve done and the fear of disease,” said Dr. James Mahoney, deputy director of the laboratory for experimental medicine and surgery at NYU. “It’s really been a form of cruelty to keep them apart. Now, they can all just finally be together.”

Mahoney said the chimps did not become sick or infectious.

On Monday, after two decades of living and learning with the nine chimps--one of whom he literally pulled from the womb--Mahoney stood over nine newly constructed animal enclosures at the Wildlife Waystation north of Lake View Terrace, preparing to say goodby.

After traveling across country by truck, the chimps arrived Monday at the center, a refuge for abused, abandoned and sick animals in the Angeles National Forest.

“This is a landmark, a true breakthrough,” Mahoney said. “Usually, when these animals are ready for retirement, they just sit in cages, alone, in labs, while we humans talk and talk and talk about what should be done with them. But here, something was done.”

Wildlife Waystation Director and founder Martine Colette met Mahoney just a few weeks ago, talked to him, shook his hand and started building temporary shelters for the animals immediately. Over the last two days, Waystation employees and volunteers worked without sleep to finish the handsome new enclosures, which can be heated, and include enough room for the chimps to climb and play on beams and ropes. The new structures cost about $150,000.

The highly intelligent primates will live in the brick, wood and steel enclosures until Colette raises enough money to build a new primatology center. When it’s ready, she plans to start the slow process of socializing the animals--introducing them to one another, allowing them to interact, hug, fight and form relationships.

The chimps range in age from 16 to 39, and were used primarily in laboratory-based testing of vaccinations, including testing of hepatitis B and hepatitis C vaccinations.

Booie, a 28-year-old chimp, learned sign language at the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma before going to NYU. His ability is more than imitative, Mahoney said.

“He once accused me of lying to him, when he asked me for a treat and I told him I didn’t have any,” he said. “Booie said, ‘Booie SEE treat,’ and he pointed at my pocket, and said it again. And yes, I had a treat in my pocket.” He also knows the signs for “play,” “hug,” “drink,” “cigarette” and many other words.

Mike Dee, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo, said Monday that the successful retirement of the NYU laboratory chimps at the waystation would be something of a first.

“For the chimps’ sake, I’m glad they’ve been taken out of the experiment situation,” he said.

Today, before heading back to New York, Mahoney plans to spend some quality time, alone with the chimps in the morning, including saying farewell to Booie.

“I will just tell him I love him, that he has got to be good, and that I’m coming back to see him soon. And I’ll give him a kiss. I don’t have to sign that. He knows what it means.”