Waystation May Still Adopt Chimps

The Wildlife Waystation is continuing its efforts to obtain a group of chimpanzees retired earlier this year from medical research, but many of the primates originally sought by the animal refuge are no longer available for adoption, officials said.

In May, The Times reported that after originally agreeing to provide “retirement” care for 47 chimpanzees and more than 150 other primates, the Waystation was forced to rescind the offer, in part because a $500,000 shelter was built in the wrong place.

It was the first time in its 20-year history that the refuge for sick and abandoned animals had been unable to care for creatures in need, said Waystation founder and director Martine Colette.

“Some are gone, but some are still out there,” Colette said. “We are still trying to figure out how we can care for them.”

Lab officials said some of the primates, which included tamarins and marmosets, have gone to shelters, while others have been returned to research. Some of the original group were infected with diseases--including AIDS--as part of the research projects in which they were specimens, officials said.

“It’s very difficult to find homes for these animals,” said Dr. James Mahoney of the New York University Medical Center’s Laboratory for Experimental Medicine.

“The Wildlife Waystation is the only United States facility to take moderately sized groups of chimps. The other places, and there are not many, can only accommodate small numbers.”

The Waystation’s inability to accept the animals stemmed from delays in the construction of an ambitious 7-acre primate center that mistakenly was built partly on U.S. Forest Service land. The Forest Service has cooperated with the Waystation, Colette said, but the process has dragged on and the cost of the still incomplete shelter has risen about 50%, to $900,000.

Officials with the Los Angeles River Ranger District said they have made the issue a priority and hope to have it resolved this month. Meanwhile, Colette said she is continuing to raise money for the temporary shelter and care of 16 remaining chimpanzees.

“We haven’t given up on them,” she said. “I’m hoping there are angels out there who want to help save a chimp.”

“Everyone wants to see these animals put into retirement, but there are very few doing anything to make it happen,” Mahoney said.