Senate Approves Chimpanzee Refuge

A bill creating a national sanctuary for chimpanzees once used in medical research passed the Senate. The bill, which passed by unanimous consent, now goes to President Clinton. It creates a system of sanctuaries for chimpanzees that are no longer used for research but are being kept in expensive federally funded facilities. Under the bill, the post-research chimps will live in naturalistic environments and integrated social groups. There are about 1,000 such chimpanzees in six biomedical research institutions across the country. Chimpanzees, which can live up to 60 years, cannot be returned to the wild after medical research because most of them carry diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.