Liberian lab chimps finally retire

In Liberia, there's a special group of 65 chimpanzees. They live on 6 islands in a river. In the past, there were 400 chimpanzees. But scientists did tests on them. Today, only 65 are alive.

Richard Ssuna is a vet. He takes care of the chimpanzees.

Richard Ssuna: "Some of the chimps you are seeing here were probably in their lifetime - the time of doing the research - could have experienced about 400 biopsies, meaning 400, anaesthetised 400 times."

The New York Blood Centre (NYBC) was studying diseases. It used the chimpanzees for the tests.

This wasn't the only problem for the animals. In 1989, Liberia had a war. There wasn't enough food in the country. The chimps almost died.

Richard Ssuna: "Essentially the caregivers, the staff from the biomedical research had to dig deep in their pockets and provide very basic rations, which of course, you know, led to severe suffering."

In 2015, NYBC stopped the research and left the chimps. Soon, there was Ebola in Liberia. A bank decided to help. Later, NYBC returned and is now paying to care for the chimpanzees.

Richard Ssuna: "You know, we cannot release them back in the wild because of all the tests that were done on them. They could, you know, have a devastating effect on conservation of other chimps, free-ranging chimps or wild chimps."

Chimpanzees can live for 60 years. But these chimps can't live in the wild. They'll need support for many more years.

View Less