Retired research chimps to be moved from New Mexico to a Louisiana sanctuary

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The National Institutes of Health decided to relocate nearly two dozen retired research chimpanzees from a facility in New Mexico to a sanctuary in Louisiana, a move celebrated Friday by animal advocates who have been fighting for years to get the animals moved.

NIH representatives confirmed in an email that the transfer of the 23 chimps from the Alamogordo Primate Facility at Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico will happen in the coming months.

Staffing issues, namely the planned retirement of the chimps' caretakers, prompted the decision to move the chimps, the agency stated. The animals have not been used as test subjects since 2015, when the NIH retired chimpanzees — humans’ closest relatives — from invasive research.

More than 200 were previously moved to the federally supported sanctuary, but the NIH said it was decided in 2019 that some were too frail to be relocated due to their health conditions. They remained at the base under the care of contracted veterinarians and caregivers.

The contractor informed the NIH that a significant number of staff were expected to retire by July 2025.

“Recruitment and training of new staff has proven difficult due to the specialized nature of the work and APF’s remote location," the NIH statement said. "Given this uncertainty, NIH has determined that the best course of action for the welfare of all these chimpanzees is to relocate them to the federal sanctuary at Chimp Haven.”

Agency spokesperson Amanda Fine said relocating chimpanzees is a complex, time-consuming process and that Chimp Haven will work with the NIH and the facility in Alamogordo to ensure the health and safety of each animal during the move.

The Humane Society of the United States is among the groups that have been sending letters to and petitioning the NIH over the years to relocate the last of the Alamogordo chimps.

The Humane Society of the United States, Animal Protection New Mexico, Humane Society Legislative Fund and others sued the NIH in 2021. A federal judge issued a ruling the next year, finding that the NIH could not legally refuse sanctuary retirement for the chimpanzees because of their chronic health conditions.

“We believe that the extraordinary amount of pressure that has been put on NIH to move them to Chimp Haven -- including the engagement of thousands of our supporters who demanded that the chimps be moved and our winning lawsuit — played a major role in the decision to finally move them to sanctuary,” the group said.

The chimps — which range in age from 34 to 62 years old — could have years ahead of them to enjoy life at the sanctuary, advocates said. The sanctuary has cared for hundreds of chimps since the first two animals arrived there in 2005. That includes 214 that were sent there from NIH-supported facilities following the agency's 2015 decision.

Chimp Haven President and CEO Rana Smith said Friday that the sanctuary is close to capacity and will have to build additional living spaces to accommodate the chimps.

The expansion is expected to cost at least $4 million, which will have to be raised from private supporters.

“There are many details to be determined in the weeks to come, but for now, we celebrate this wonderful news for the APF chimps,” Smith said.

New Mexico was once home to a large colony of captive-bred chimpanzees, with the animals first brought to the state for space travel testing. Later, the colony was acquired by the Coulston Foundation, and expanded for use with drug testing and infectious disease research.

Animal Protection New Mexico has pressed for the chimpanzees’ freedom since the mid-1990s.

“These deserving chimpanzees have endured so much for so long, and their arrival in sanctuary will represent the federal government’s honoring of its obligation and commitment to their retirement,” said Elisabeth Jennings, the group's executive director.

In this image taken from a video provided by the National Institutes of Health, a retired research chimpanzee is given a snack on Oct. 2019, at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in southern N.M. (National Institutes of Health via AP)

This Aug. 29, 2024 image provided by Chimp Haven, shows chimpanzees TJ and Nicole hanging out at a sanctuary near Keithville, La. The two were among a group of chimps previously relocated from the Alamogordo Private Facility at Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico. (Chimp Haven via AP)

In this image taken from a video provided by the National Institutes of Health, a retired research chimpanzee sits in an enclosure, Oct. 2019, at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in southern N.M. (National Institutes of Health via AP)

In this image taken from a video provided by the National Institutes of Health, a retired research chimpanzee hangs in an enclosure, Oct. 2019, at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in southern N.M. (National Institutes of Health via AP)

In this image taken from a video provided by the National Institutes of Health, a retired research chimpanzee eats, Oct. 2019, at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in southern N.M. (National Institutes of Health via AP)

FILE - The administrative building of the National Institutes of Health is shown in Bethesda, Md., Aug. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Melinda French Gates is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts to two nonprofit organizations to help spur donations on GivingTuesday, which has become a major annual fundraising day for nonprofits.

For more than a decade, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, charitable organizations have asked for donations or other support from their networks.

“It’s a great time to remind people that we’re better off when we give something back and we all have something to give back,” said French Gates in an interview, speaking about her enthusiasm for GivingTuesday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was an early supporter of GivingTuesday, which started as a hashtag and a project at the 92nd Street Y in New York and has since become its own organization.

Last year, donors gave an estimated $3.1 billion on GivingTuesday, but the overall number of people who participated declined. Asha Curran, CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, who calculated that estimate, said matches like French Gates' help catalyze people to give.

“We really share a commitment to the idea also that philanthropy is not just in the hands of the ultra wealthy," she said. "That it really takes everyone to contribute to a healthy society through generosity.”

Una Osili, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says that even if fewer households are giving, donations may be holding steady because those who donate are giving more.

“The optimist in me would certainly say there are lots of reasons to think that giving will at least hold steady," Osili said. "But what we’ve seen in the past few years is that inflation especially, even though it’s moderated, is a concern for many everyday households.”

French Gates, through her organization Pivotal, plans to match up to $500,000 in donations to two organizations — Vote Mama Foundation, which supports mothers running for political office, and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, which advocates for people caring for others. The organizations have 10 days to raise the funds and will direct donors to give through the nonprofit crowdfunding platform Every.org, which will track the donations that will be matched.

“This was Melinda. This was a complete surprise to us,” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, founder and CEO of Vote Mama Foundation.

Her organization wants to make it easier for mothers to hold political office, from local school boards to the Senate. She founded the organization after running for Congress in 2018 when she successfully petitioned the Federal Election Commission to use campaign funds to pay for childcare. Now, all federal candidates can pay for childcare with campaign funds and many states have passed similar laws.

“It’s used by men. It’s used by women. It’s used by moms and dads and Democrats and Republicans,” Grechen Shirley said. “But the majority of funds are used by women, and a majority of those funds are used by women of color. So it really does have the ability to transform the political landscape.”

Through her giving and advocacy, French Gates has championed paid family leave, support for caregivers and making child care less expensive. She endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race but said that Harris' defeat won't stop her from continuing her work.

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers is one of the first organizations to speak out about the work of caregiving, French Gates said. Paurvi Bhatt, who leads the institute, said French Gates had a long and cherished relationship with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away last year.

“It is based on a hand-in-glove relationship we’ve had for a number of years,” Bhatt said of the matching gift.

This public match on GivingTuesday is the latest commitment French Gates has made since stepping down from the Gates Foundation in May. (French Gates and Bill Gates, her ex-husband and the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, announced their divorce in 2021.) She pledged $1 billion to support women and families over two years. That included $250 million to support improving women's health globally and she gave 12 leaders each $20 million to distribute to nonprofit organizations of their choice before the end of 2026.

“The reason I’ve come out so strongly saying, ‘This is what I am doing next,’ is because I wanted people to know I’m not going away,” said French Gates. “My values are still here. And this work around ‘How do we make a more equitable society?’ There is so much work to be done in the United States.”

The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and in statehouses from Pivotal Ventures.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Asha Curran, the CEO of GivingTuesday, poses for a photo on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Asha Curran, the CEO of GivingTuesday, poses for a photo on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

FILE - Melinda French Gates speaks at the Seminar: Digital Public Infrastructure: Stacking up the Benefits, during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)