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After a 1.5 year, multi-prong pressure campaign demanding better animal care and living conditions conditions at Project Chimps, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has announced a $20 million commitment to its Georgia sanctuary. According to its press release, HSUS is allocating $5 million in 2022 toward the creation of habitat space for the chimpanzees and $15 million in operational support to be distributed evenly over the course of 10 years. The campaign, called #ChimpsDeserveBetter, was led by the grassroots animal advocacy groups Chimps Deserve Better, Progress for Science and TheirTurn.

Lindsay on a porch at HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps (photo: Crystal Alba)

“We are pleased that HSUS has pledged critical funding to create a new habitat for the 81 chimpanzees who reside at Project Chimps,” said Donny Moss, a NYC-based Chimps Deserve Better campaign organizer. “After living in laboratories and being subjected to cruel research experiments, these chimpanzees deserve to spend their final years in as natural a setting as captivity can provide.”

After a 1.5 year, multi-prong pressure campaign demanding better animal care and living conditions conditions at Project Chimps, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has announced a $20 million commitment to its Georgia sanctuary.

The animal rights community learned about the plight of the chimpanzees in May 2020 after Project Chimps sued two former employees who launched a website exposing poor animal care and living conditions at the sanctuary. Following online actions and protests at the homes of HSUS board members, Project Chimps dropped the lawsuit against the whistleblowers, Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt.

Following protests by grassroots animal rights groups, HSUS dropped its lawsuit against Project Chimps’s whistleblowers Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt

Starting in July 2020, the animal rights groups launched a broader campaign calling on HSUS to hire a veterinarian with chimpanzee experience and create enough habitat space at Project Chimps to enable the chimpanzees to have daily access to the outdoors.

Animal rights activists around the country called on The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to create additional yards at Project Chimps so that the 81 chimpanzees in their care have daily access to the outdoors.

“With a new veterinarian in place and funding to break ground on a new habitat, we are pausing the protests against HSUS,” said Bob Ingersoll, a San Francisco-based primatologist and organizer on the Chimps Deserve Better campaign. “We hope to replace the protests with an open dialogue about the changes being made to improve the lives of the chimpanzees.”

“The infusion of funds will help improve the facilities, if spent wisely,” said Lindsay Vanderhoogt, a whistleblower with Chimps Deserve Better. “But we’d also like to see a change in culture where management prioritizes the welfare of the chimpanzees in the decision-making process.”

“Five million dollars is a significant step towards providing the chimps with adequate housing and daily outdoor access,” said Cory Mac, a Chimps Deserve Better campaign organizer with Progress for Science, an anti-vivisection animal rights activist group in Los Angeles. “We look forward to hearing more about how HSUS and Project Chimps will be moving forward to guarantee these necessities along with instituting improved health care and practices for the chimps.“

Advocacy groups erected a billboard calling on The Humane Society of the United States to transform its Project Chimps facility from a warehouse to a true sanctuary

At Project Chimps, the Humane Society’s chimpanzee “sanctuary” in Georgia, the 77 chimpanzees spend most of the time in concrete rooms.

HSUS CEO Kitty Block’s response to advocates calling on her to create additional yards at Project Chimps so that the 77 chimpanzees have daily access to the outdoors.

At Project Chimps, HSUS has prioritized amenities for tourists ahead of some of the basic needs of the chimps.

HSUS’s multi-year delay in creating additional yards doesn’t only affect the 77 chimpanzees at Project Chimps; it also impacts the estimated 120 retired chimpanzees at New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) who are waiting to be sent to a sanctuary. In 2016, Project Chimps signed a contract with NIRC which stipulated that its 220 chimps would be sent exclusively to Project Chimps. In a call on August 9th, however, NIRC Director Dr. Francois Villinger told Donny Moss of TheirTurn that he would not transfer any additional chimpanzees to Project Chimps until the sanctuary addresses the space issues. “Because HSUS is dragging its feet on expanding Project Chimps, the chimps at NIRC are stuck there for the indefinite future,” said Moss. “This is especially troubling given the recent instances of animal cruelty uncovered at NIRC by the advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN).”

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) uncovered and publicly exposed animal cruelty at the New Iberia Research Center

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are engaged in a public battle over the plight of Hercules and Leo, NhRP clients who are languishing in concrete enclosures at HSUS’s Project Chimps facility in Georgia.

In August, hundreds of animal rights activists across the country took to social media to call on The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to provide the 77 chimpanzees in their care at Project Chimps with daily access to the outdoors. At Project Chimps, HSUS’s 236 acre forested sanctuary in Georgia, the chimpanzees have access to an outdoor habitat for just a few hours every three days. They spend the rest of the time in concrete enclosures.

Jane Velez-Mitchell, an author, animal rights journalist and former TV news anchor with HLN, is calling on HSUS to improve animal welfare at Project Chimps.

On August 14th, activists with the animal rights group CAFT staged a protest at the San Francisco home of Susan Atherton, the Chair of the Board of HSUS. “Can you imagine being locked in a cement cage for days on end, and you only get a break for a just couple of hours to get outside in the sun, in the trees,” said Nick Pecoraro, an organizer with CAFT. “The Humane Society should be doing better.”

Lindsay Vanderhoogt, one of two former employees who Project Chimps sued for blowing the whistle about conditions at the sanctuary, created a video explaining the outdoor access issue. (Crystal Alba, the other whistleblower, is creating a video series about the deficient vet care at Project Chimps. This is the first video in the series.)

In response to a grass roots letter writing campaign in July, HSUS CEO Kitty Block acknowledged the need for additional yards, but she did not specify when Project Chimps would create them. She also blamed “COVID” and “weather” for the delay, despite the fact that the chimpanzees have been living in these conditions since 2016.

HSUS CEO Kitty Block’s response to advocates calling on her to create additional yards at Project Chimps so that the 77 chimpanzees have daily access to the outdoors.

Instead of acknowledging that the chimpanzees have access to the outdoors for just a few hours every three days, HSUS and Project Chimps claim that the chimpanzees have daily access to the outdoors on porches, which are covered concrete rooms with metal bars.

As of 2019, HSUS had $299.5 million in assets according to its tax filings. That year, it generated $159 million in revenues. Given the vast amount of money it raises off of its donors and its penchant for using chimpanzees as fundraising tools, advocates believe that HSUS should invest in outdoor yards now.

Humane Society of the United States 2019 tax filings

Since launching a campaign to help the chimps in mid-2020, whistleblowers from Project Chimps and animal rights groups have asked the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), a highly esteemed sanctuary accrediting body, why it accredits Project Chimps in light of the fact that it doesn’t meet GFAS standards for great ape sanctuaries. While they did not receive an answer, a TheirTurn investigation revealed close financial and administrative ties between GFAS and HSUS. The conflict of interest is addressed on GFAS’s Wikipedia page.

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuary’s Wikipedia page includes the conflict of interest that explains why the organization accredits a sanctuary that doesn’t meet its standards

In June 2020, animal rights activists with Progress for Science, Chimps Deserve Better, Do The Right Thing and TheirTurn launched a campaign to help the chimpanzees after learning that Project Chimps sued two whistleblowers who came forward publicly about the poor welfare standards at the sanctuary. The whistleblowers, who posted extensive evidence in support of their claims at HelpTheChimps.org, spent $30,000 on their legal defense before Project Chimps dropped the lawsuit.

“HSUS’s efforts to silence and intimidate whistleblowers inadvertently shined a spotlight on the abysmal welfare conditions at Project Chimps,” said Donny Moss, an organizer in the campaign to help the chimps. “If HSUS hadn’t taken page out of the playbook of big animal ag by suing the women who came forward, then the nationwide grassroots efforts to help these chimps might never have taken place.”

Animal rights activists around the country are calling on The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to create additional yards at Project Chimps so that the 77 chimpanzees in their care have access to the outdoors every day.

On July 2nd, Kitty Block, the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), sent the following statement to people who participated in a letter-writing campaign calling on the organization to improve animal welfare at Project Chimps, HSUS’s sanctuary in Georgia that is home to 77 chimpanzees. 

HSUS STATEMENT

Letter sent by HSUS CEO Kitty Block to advocates who contacted her regarding inhumane treatment at its chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia, Project Chimps

OUR RESPONSE

The organizations and activists advocating on behalf of these chimps are pleased that HSUS is finally acknowledging the need to create new yards so that the chimps have access to the outdoors every day. However, we are disappointed that HSUS is denying other serious deficiencies and using PR spin and misinformation to give the impression that conditions at the sanctuary are humane.

We realize that powerful organizations can be intransigent, but, given HSUS’s mission to help animals, we are baffled by the poor welfare conditions; by HSUS’s refusal to acknowledge and fix them; and by its unwillingness to apologize to the whistleblowers whom they sued after they exposed these conditions.

HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps filed – and ultimately dropped – a lawsuit against former employees Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhooght after they came forward publicly with evidence of animal cruelty

HSUS can continue to use its PR machine to discredit the advocates and portray us as uninformed. The truth, however, is on our side. We will continue to be a voice for the 77 chimps until HSUS transforms Project Chimps into a true sanctuary that meets the standards set by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).

Outdoor Access

HSUS states that the chimps should have “more time in outdoor habitat space.” Until now, HSUS has dismissed our concerns about the long stretches of confinement by falsely claiming that the chimps have access to the outdoors every day on porches. The porches, however, are concrete rooms with metal bars through which chimps can merely see the outdoors. HSUS further deceives the public and its donors by posting photos that give the impression that the chimpanzees spend their days in a lush outdoor habitat.

The chimpanzees at HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps have access to the outdoors just once every three days for a few hours, but the facility’s social media pages would lead the public to believe that they spend seven days a week in the habitat.

In its statement, HSUS attributes the delays in creating new outdoor habitats to COVID and bad weather, but the chimpanzees have been living without sufficient outdoor space for six years. Furthermore, if Project Chimps was able to build hiking trails for tourists during the pandemic, then why couldn’t it create yards for the chimps? Sanctuaries are not zoos; they are supposed to prioritize the needs of the animals, not amenities for tourists.  

HSUS claims that COVID and poor weather prevented Project Chimps from creating yards for the chimps, yet these conditions didn’t stop the sanctuary from creating hiking trails for tourists.

If advocates hadn’t exposed the fact that Project Chimps was warehousing these chimps instead of providing them with a true sanctuary, then HSUS would not be acknowledging the need to “begin build-out efforts in the near future.” It would still be suing the whistleblowers who publicly exposed this gross deficiency in the first place. 

Veterinary Care

HSUS states that the chimpanzees are “receiving good medical care” according to “independent sources.” That is not true. In a highly anticipated assessment of Project Chimps conducted in late 2020, Dr. Steve Ross gave Project Chimps a D grade on its welfare management programs, which assesses veterinary services, enrichment, training, safety, staffing and diet. In his report, Dr. Ross emphasized, “There is relatively little veterinary experience.” Dr. Ross published his critical assessment eight months ago (11/2020), and, still, HSUS has not hired a veterinarian with chimpanzee experience. 

In a 2020 assessment of HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps, primatologist Dr. Steve Ross gave Project Chimps a D on its welfare management programs, which include veterinary care.

At Project Chimps, medical care is administered by a retired small animal veterinarian who has no prior chimpanzee experience and who spends just a few hours, one day a week at the sanctuary. Since May 2020, two chimpanzees needlessly died after he ignored the pleas of chimp caregivers to address their serious and recurring symptoms. 

“Chimps would still be in a lab”

HSUS states that the chimps “would still be in a lab without Project Chimps.” That is misleading. More than a hundred chimps are STILL in a lab because of HSUS’s failure to create a true sanctuary environment. 

A contract between New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) and HSUS stipulates that all of the chimps will be sent to Project Chimps, but NIRC has stopped sending chimps due to welfare concerns at the sanctuary.

The contract between HSUS and the lab (New Iberia Research Center – NIRC) stipulates that NIRC will send all of its chimpanzees to Project Chimps, but NIRC has stopped sending chimps because HSUS is not fulfilling its obligation to provide them with a true sanctuary. If HSUS hired a veterinarian and care staff with chimpanzee experience and modified the yards to increase time outdoors (while creating new yards), then NIRC would be able to send the remaining chimpanzees to Project Chimps.

“Attacks on the Sanctuary”

HSUS states that “attacks on the sanctuary” are “actively undermining the support the sanctuary needs to achieve the best outcomes for these animals.” That is false. It is only because of these “attacks” (aka advocacy) that HSUS is finally acknowledging at least one of the sanctuary’s serious deficiencies – a shortage of outdoor space for the chimps. 

The whistleblowers, activists and national advocacy groups (Nonhuman Rights Project and PETA) that are advocating for these chimpanzees never intended to speak out publicly, but HSUS’s arrogant dismissal of the concerns that we raised in private left us – and continues to leave us – with no choice. Normally, the Global Federation of Animals Sanctuaries (GFAS), not activists, would ensure that accredited sanctuaries are treating their animals humanely. However, because GFAS was created by and is, in part, funded, by HSUS, it is not enforcing its own standards at Project Chimps. The chimpanzees are victims of this conflict of interest.   

How can GFAS independently assess a sanctuary operated by an organization funds it?

Animal rights activists in New York City staged a sixth protest at Upper East Side home of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) board member Sharon Lee Patrick over the mistreatment of animals at its Project Chimps sanctuary in Georgia. The #ChimpsDeserveBetter protests, which have also been staged in Los Angeles, San Francisco and The Hamptons, are part of a nationwide campaign to compel HSUS to transform Project Chimps from a chimpanzee warehouse into a true sanctuary. At Project Chimps, the 77 chimpanzees are held in concrete enclosures for all but about 10 hours per week.  Advocates argue that the chimpanzees, who spent up to several decades locked up in laboratories, should have access to an outdoor habitat every day.

The protest marked the one year anniversary of a lawsuit that Project Chimps filed against two whistleblowers who came forward publicly with extensive evidence of animal cruelty, including the absence of skilled veterinary care, poor safety protocols, substandard facilities, infrequent access to the outdoor yards, overcrowding and rushed introductions.

Whistleblower Lindsay Vanderhoogt writes about being sued by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) sanctuary Project Chimps after coming forward publicly with evidence of animal cruelty

Protests organized by animal rights groups at the homes of HSUS board members in New York and California triggered Project Chimps to drop the lawsuit two months after filing it.  Nevertheless, the whistleblowers had to raise $30,000 to cover their legal expenses.

Animal rights activists with Progress for Science protest HSUS board Member Steven White over poor animal welfare conditions at Project Chimps

In recent weeks, activists working on the #ChimpsDeserveBetter campaign have turned their attention to the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), an organization that accredits animal sanctuaries that meet its rigorous standards. Confused about why GFAS accredited a sanctuary that doesn’t meet many of its standards, the activists researched the relationship between GFAS and HSUS and discovered several conflicts of interest.

Just five of the 236 acres at HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps serve as outdoor habitats for the 77 chimpanzees

Since 2007, many people who have worked at GFAS or served on its board have been affiliated with HSUS. One of the GFAS founders was the Chief Operating Officer of HSUS, and another served as treasurer of a political action committee founded by HSUS. Today, these individuals serve on GFAS’s Board of Directors. A Senior Vice President at HSUS also serves on the board, and an HSUS employee works at GFAS. In addition, one of the GFAS employees who inspected Project Chimps in 2020 is a former HSUS employee. HSUS also provides financial support to GFAS, according to GFAS’s 2018 and 2019 annual reports. Advocates assert that GFAS cannot make unbiased assessments of an HSUS sanctuary if it is comprised of people affiliated with HSUS; is partially funded by HSUS; and has administrative ties to HSUS.

How can GFAS independently assess a sanctuary operated by an organization funds it?

On May 10th, 2021, Donny Moss of TheirTurn sent a letter to the President of the Board of Directors of GFAS to express his concerns about the conflicts of interest and to ask GFAS to enforce its own standards in order to improve chimpanzee care.

On May 13th, the Chairman of the Board responded to Moss’s letter.  “We are involved and working with Project Chimps. I’m at least guardedly optimistic that GFAS will have more forthcoming related to Project Chimps that we can speak to publicly within a week or so.”

In addition to grass roots animal rights organizations, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) have publicly called on HSUS to improve animal welfare conditions at Project Chimps. In several letters to HSUS CEO Kitty Block, NhRP has asked that Project Chimps provide their chimpanzee clients Hercules and Leo with daily access to the outdoor habitats.

In March 2021, the Nonhuman Rights Project asked its supporters to call on HSUS CEO Kitty Block to provide their clients, Hercules and Leo, with daily access to the an outdoor habitat

HSUS has ignored NhRP’s request, and, in its public statements, asserts that the chimpanzees have daily access to the outdoors on  “porches.” Advocates argue that the porches, which are concrete enclosures with a view of the outdoors, are not outdoors.

HSUS claims that the 77 chimpanzees at Project Chimps have daily access to the outdoors on “porches”

The #ChimpsDeserveBetter campaign organizers have vowed to continue advocating for the chimps until HSUS acknowledges the welfare problems and demonstrates that it is addressing them. On June 13th, the animal rights group Progress for Science is staging a protest at the home of HSUS board Member Steven White in Santa Monica, California.

The Southampton Press published a story about one of the protests targeting HSUS board member Brad Jakeman

In order for HSUS to uphold the mission of Project Chimps “to provide lifelong exemplary care” to the chimpanzees in its care, it must do the following:

1. Begin constructing additional yards on its 236 acre forested property so that the chimps have access to the outdoors every day instead of every third day.
2. Rotate two groups of chimps (instead of one) into each of the two yards every day (one group in the morning, and the other in the afternoon) so that the chimps have access to the outdoors between 4 and 5 times each week.
3. Hire an Executive Director who has chimpanzee experience; who instinctively prioritizes the welfare of the animals and who has the respect of his or her peers in the primate sanctuary community.
4. Hire a veterinarian and vet tech who have chimpanzee expertise.
5. Appoint two people to Board of Directors of Project Chimps who have captive chimpanzee experience and are willing and able to function independently from HSUS

At Project Chimps, an HSUS sanctuary, the 77 chimpanzees languish in concrete enclosures for all but a few hours once every three days