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Animal Rights Activists Protest Humane Society Board Member Sharon Lee Patrick over Animal Cruelty at Project Chimps

October 23, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

Over 30 animal rights activists staged a protest at the New York City home of Sharon Lee Patrick, a member of the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), over the organization’s refusal to improve the living conditions of the 78 chimpanzees in their care at Project Chimps, HSUS’s sanctuary in Georgia.  At Project Chimps, the animals are held in concrete rooms for all but 10 hours a week.

“Project Chimps is supposed to be a sanctuary, not a warehouse,” said Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of the animal rights group NYCLASS and co-organizer of the protest. “The Humane Society needs to build additional outdoor habitats so that the chimps are moving around freely in the fresh air instead of pulling out their hair in concrete prison cells.”

In May, 2020, 22 former Project Chimps employees and volunteers sent a letter to Project Chimps board director Bruce Wagman to voice their concerns about poor veterinary care, infrequent access to the outdoors, overcrowding, rushed chimpanzee introductions, a lack of sufficient enrichment and other forms of neglect and deprivation. Project Chimps dismissed their concerns in a three sentence response and described two of the former employees as “disgruntled” in a lawsuit that it filed against them after they posted evidence of the abuse on HelpTheChimps.org.

Left: Eddie, who was injured during a fight due to overcrowding (photo taken in Sept., 2019). Right: Panielle, who is underweight in this photo due to neglected intestinal parasites (Photo taken in late 2019).

The protest comes less than a week after the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) issued a public statement demanding that HSUS and Project Chimps provide the chimpanzees with daily access to the outdoors. NhRP, animal rights organization that seeks to upgrade the legal status of animals, took the unusual step of speaking out publicly about the welfare conditions at Project Chimps after HSUS dismissed its concerns about Hercules and Leo, chimpanzees who ended up at Project Chimps after NhRP liberated them from a laboratory in New York.

The Nonhuman Rights Project issued a public statement demanding that Project Chimps provide its clients, Hercules and Leo, with daily access to the outdoors. Full statement.

After being liberated from a lab in New York, Hercules and Leo were relocated to HSUS’s Project Chimps, which describes itself as a sanctuary

NhRP is not the first animal rights organization to publicly criticize HSUS over the mistreatment of animals at Project Chimps. On July 31st, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued its own statement after reviewing the evidence.

On July 31, 2020, PETA issued a public statement regarding the welfare conditions at Project Chimps

On July 9th, National Geographic published an in depth, investigative story about the animal cruelty allegations. While it includes statements from both sides, the story paints a grim and disturbing picture of animal welfare that corroborates the allegations of the whistleblowers.

National Geographic investigative story about animal mistreatment at HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary, Project Chimps

Sharon Lee Patrick is the fourth HSUS board member targeted with protests. Since July, 2020, animal rights activists have protested at the Santa Monica (CA) home of Steven White; at the Sag Harbor (NY) clothing store owned by Brad Jakeman; and the San Francisco home of Susan Atherton, the co-chair of the board.

During a protest at the NYC home of HSUS board member Sharon Lee Patrick, activists distributed hundreds of flyers to her neighbors

Grass roots animal rights groups around the country, including Stop Animal Exploitation Now and Progress for Science, say they will continue to hold HSUS board members accountable until they acknowledge the welfare violations at Project Chimps and commit to addressing them. They are posting updates on the campaign and calls to action on the Facebook pages Do The Right Thing and Protesting HSUS Over Cruelty at Project Chimps

TheirTurn is documenting the grass roots campaign to hold HSUS board members accountable for mistreating the chimpanzees in their care at Project Chimps


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Progress For Science Protests HSUS Over Animal Mistreatment at Project Chimps

September 30, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

Over 20 activists with Progress For Science, a Los Angeles-based animal rights group, staged a protest at the Santa Monica home of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) board member Steven White over the mistreatment of animals at Project Chimps, HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia.

White and his colleagues on the boards of HSUS and Project Chimps have refused to acknowledge and rectify animal welfare issues raised by 22 former sanctuary employees and volunteers who sent a letter to Project Chimps board to voice their concerns about poor veterinary care, infrequent access to the outdoors (10 hours/week), overcrowding, rushed chimpanzee introductions, a lack of sufficient enrichment in their concrete enclosures and other forms of neglect and deprivation. Two of these individuals, Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt, posted photos, videos and reports documenting the abuse on HelpTheChimps.org after they attempted to effect change from within Project Chimps.

Animal rights activists are demanding that HSUS’s Project Chimps provide the animals in their care with daily access to the outdoors

“The chimps are living in woefully substandard conditions at Project Chimps after being subjected to a lifetime of laboratory experiments,” said Cory Mac, an organizer with Progress For Science. “Instead of attempting to silence credible whistleblowers, Steven White and his colleagues at HSUS should be focused on improving animal care and providing the chimps with a humane retirement.”  In August, Project Chimps dropped a federal lawsuit it filed against Alba and Vanderhoogt, who continue to speak out on behalf of the chimps.

Animal rights activists with Progress for Science protest the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) over the mistreatment of animals at its Project Chimps sanctuary in Georgia

On July 9th, National Geographic published an in depth, investigative story about the animal cruelty allegations and the lawsuit against the whistleblowers. While it includes statements from both sides, the story paints a grim and disturbing picture of animal welfare that corroborates the allegations of the whistleblowers.

National Georgraphic investigative story about animal mistreatment at HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary, Project Chimps

Steven White is the third HSUS board member to be targeted with protests. In San Francisco, primatologist Bob Ingersoll and local activists protested at the Nob Hill home of Susan Atherton, the co-chair of HSUS’s Board of Directors. In New York, animal rights activists with TheirTurn staged two protests at an upscale clothing store owned by HSUS board member Brad Jakeman.

Animal rights activists demand the Steven White and his colleagues on HSUS’s Board of Directors improve animal welfare at Project Chimps

Animal rights activists vow to continue holding HSUS’s board members accountable until they improve the welfare standards at Project Chimps. Among their demands are providing the chimps with daily access to the outdoors; not taking in additional chimps until they can be accommodated humanely and hiring an Executive Director with chimpanzee experience.

Board members of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have been targeted with protests animal rights activists in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York who are demanding improved welfare conditions at its Project Chimps sanctuary in Georgia

In its public statements, HSUS asserts that third party inspections have exonerated Project Chimps of the animal cruelty allegations. However, the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), a sanctuary accrediting organization, made several animal welfare recommendations after conducting an investigation, in spite of its close financial ties to HSUS. Another inspection that HSUS references in an effort to discredit the welfare allegations was conducted by a veterinarian who HSUS paid $20,000 in “consulting” fees, in spite of the fact that she lives in a different state.

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) made some of the same animal welfare recommendations as the whistleblowers

Among the protesters at Steven White’s home was Carole Raphaelle Davis, a Hollywood actress who recently starred in Madam Secretary. During her Facebook livestream, Davis encapsulated the feelings of many of the activists who participated ‘The Humane Society is the largest animal welfare organization in the country and is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars; it can easily afford to give these animals the life they deserve, but they don’t and that’s why we won’t back down until they fix this wrong. The mistreatment of these chimps in their care is just not right. It’s not fair.”


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Animal Rights Activists Protest HSUS Board Chair Susan Atherton Over Cruelty at Project Chimps Sanctuary

August 11, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

Animal rights activists in San Francisco staged a protest at the San Francisco home of Susan Atherton, the co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of United States (HSUS), to demand that she and her colleagues drop a lawsuit against two whistleblowers who came forward with evidence of animal abuse at HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia, Project Chimps.

“We don’t understand why Ms. Atherton is suing the whistleblowers instead of addressing the welfare issues raised by them and 20 other current and former Project Chimps’s employees,” said Bob Ingersoll, a primatologist and chimp advocate who organized the protest. “Perhaps she just has poor judgment, as evidenced by the fact that she proudly wears real fur and animal skin, which flies in the face of the mission of the Humane Society of the United States.”

While pedestrians expressed their support of the protesters, Atherton’s agitated neighbors were less sympathetic, claiming that the activists were targeting the “wrong person” and arguing that the activists were “going about this the wrong way.”

The Humans Society of the Untied States claims to oppose fur, but Susan Atherton, the co-chair of its Board of Directors, wears real fur.

In July 2020, HSUS’s Project Chimps filed the defamation lawsuit against the whistleblowers, Lindsay Vanderhoogt, a founding staff member who resigned in 2018, and Crystal Alba, a veterinary assistant, who was fired in March, 2020, over her ongoing demands for reform. Knowing that the welfare standards would decline further without Alba, she and Vanderhoogt continued to advocate for the chimps by calling for outside investigations and sounding the alarm about the abuses, which, at the time of Crystal’s departure, included appalling veterinary care (suspected untreated broken limbs, untreated deep wounds and parasitic infection); barren, concrete enclosures and porches devoid of enrichment where they spend the vast majority of their time; and infrequent access to the outdoor habitat. According to Crystal, one group of 14 chimps had no habitat access for eight months.

The Project Chimps whistleblowers meticulously documented the decline in care and their efforts to help the chimps

When Crystal’s efforts to effect change from within the organization failed, she and the second whistleblower, Lindsay Vanderhoogt, posted documentation of these abuses on HelpTheChimps.org.

At HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary, Project Chimps, the chimpanzees spend all but 10 hours a week in concrete enclosures

In February, 2020, Alba and Vanderhoogt contacted the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) to ask for an inspection. In spite of the financial ties between GFAS and HSUS, GFAS made multiple animal care recommendations that echoed those of the whistleblowers and validated their allegations of animal mistreatment. Nevertheless, HSUS continues to assert that Crystal and Lindsay are simply “disgruntled employees” who fabricated the allegations, and it continues to attempt to silence them through a federal lawsuit.

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) made some of the same recommendations as the whistleblowers to to improve the welfare of the chimps

In an Animals 24/7 article about the controversy, reporter Merritt Clifton noted the absurdity of HSUS’s litigation against the whistleblowers even after GFAS validated their complaints. “That’s a bit like getting convicted by a kangaroo court, if you’ll pardon the expression, controlled by one’s own mob; accepting the sentence; and then trying to kill all the witnesses.”

Alba and Vanderhoogt are not the only former HSUS/Project Chimps’s employees who have come forward. In three page letter sent to Project Chimps’s board, a total of 22 “former and current Project Chimps employees, volunteers, interns, and donors” articulated their concerns about “serious welfare issues at Project Chimps.”

Click image to read letter to Project Chimps signed by 22 whistleblowers, who are former and current employees

In an apparent effort to distance herself from the controversy, Atherton removed herself from the board of Project Chimps in July. However, because Project Chimps is an HSUS sanctuary, she continues to be accountable as co-chair of its Board of Directors.

In spite of her senior roles at the Humane Society and San Francisco SPCA, Susan Atherton wears animal skins

Protest organizer Bob Ingersoll says that the group plans to continue protesting until Atherton “does the right thing” by dropping the lawsuit and improving the care of the chimpanzees at Project Chimps.

Animal rights activists demand that Susan Atherton, the co-chair of the Board of Directors of HSUS, drop the lawsuit against two whistleblowers who came forward with evidence of animal abuse at HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary, Project Chimps


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Animal Rights Activists Protest HSUS Board Member Brad Jakeman Over Animal Cruelty at Project Chimps and Lawsuit Against Whistleblowers

July 28, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

On July 25th, animal rights activists staged a protest in front of a clothing store in Sag Harbor, New York that is co-owned by a member of the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The protesters demanded that the board member, Brad Jakeman, and his colleagues drop the lawsuit filed against two chimpanzee caregivers who blew the whistle about animal abuse at Project Chimps, HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia.

While still employed by Project Chimps as an animal caregiver, Crystal Alba, one of the whistleblowers who HSUS is suing, meticulously documented inexcusably poor veterinary care, infrequent access to the outdoors, overcrowding, rushed introductions, a lack of sufficient enrichment when the chimps are confined to their concrete enclosures and other forms of neglect and deprivation. When Crystal’s efforts to effect change from within the organization failed, she and the second whistleblower, Lindsay Vanderhoogt, posted documentation of these abuses on HelpTheChimps.org.

At HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary, Project Chimps, the chimpanzees spend all but 10 hours a week in concrete enclosures

In February, 2020, Crystal contacted the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) to ask for an inspection. In spite of the financial ties between GFAS and HSUS, GFAS made multiple animal care recommendations that echoed those of the whistleblowers and validated their allegations of animal mistreatment. Nevertheless, HSUS continues to assert that Crystal and Lindsay are simply “disgruntled employees” who fabricated the allegations, and it continues to attempt to intimidate and silence them through a defamation lawsuit.

Project Chimps, an HSUS chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia, is suing former chimpanzee caregivers Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt after they came forward publicly with evidence of animal cruelty

On July 9th, National Geographic published an in depth, investigative story about the animal cruelty allegations and the lawsuit against the whistleblowers. While it includes statements from both sides, the story paints a grim and disturbing picture of animal welfare that corroborates the allegations of the whistleblowers.

On July 9th, National Geographic published an in depth investigation that corroborated the whistleblowers’ allegations of animal abuse at Project Chimps, an HSUS chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia

Activists staged the protest against Brad Jakeman only after he ignored their efforts to talk to him. In addition to sending Mr. Jakeman emails, activists hand delivered a letter to his store several weeks before the protest. Organizers will continue protesting Mr. Jakeman’s store, Ryland Life Equipment (which, as an aside, sells leather, wool, cashmere and suede), until the Humane Society of the United States drops the lawsuit against the whistleblowers and demonstrates that it is improving the welfare of the chimps.

Animal rights activist protest HSUS board member Brad Jakeman at Ryland Life Equipment, the clothing store that he co-owns in Sag Harbor, New York.

The Southampton Press published a lengthy story about the protest

The Southampton Press published a lengthy story about the the protest targeting Brad Jakeman

In June, TheirTurn sent a letter to Project Chimps board member Amber Nash asking that the sanctuary drop the lawsuit against two whistleblowers who came forward publicly with evidence of animal mistreatment

 


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Why I’m Blowing the Whistle on HSUS – By Donny Moss

June 11, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

Many animal advocates know that The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) takes credit for victories achieved by other groups and fundraises off of those successes. This happened to me and other grass roots activists in NYC after we secured a $6 million settlement on behalf of 66 abandoned chimpanzees who were used in research. But what many people don’t know is that HSUS has used – and is continuing to use – outside law firms to intimidate, threaten and sue some of its (now former) employees who, after attempting to effect change from within, have publicly exposed systemic abuses of animals in HSUS’s care, some of which I have observed firsthand. 

For the past two years, I have resisted publicly addressing these abuses for fear of fomenting strife within an already fractured animal protection community, but HSUS’s decision to file a lawsuit against two of the 22 whistleblowers at its Project Chimps sanctuary has compelled me to do what many organizations cannot for fear of retaliation – hold HSUS accountable for animal cruelty and demand reform so that their sanctuaries are, at the very least, more humane than the laboratories from which the animals were rescued.

I am not a disgruntled HSUS employee. In fact, I have never been employed by HSUS or any other animal protection organization. On the contrary, I am an independent grass roots advocate without bosses, budgets or boards to take into account. I therefore have the freedom – and ethical obligation – to help expose the abuses that HSUS’s Project Chimps is attempting to cover up by suing whistleblowers — individuals who have nothing to gain personally by coming forward.

Over the past several years, many employees and contractors, including caregivers, vet techs, veterinarians and construction workers, at HSUS’s two chimpanzee sanctuaries (Project Chimps in Georgia and Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge in Liberia) have been so alarmed by the neglect, deprivation and other forms of abuse that they were willing to risk their jobs, financial security and future employment prospects by speaking out. Following is a letter that 22 current and former Project Chimp employees sent to the organization’s board. 

Click image to read letter to Project Chimps signed by 22 whistleblowers who are former and current employees

Following is the response sent by the Chairman of the Board.

Project Chimps response to letter written by 22 current and former employees

I don’t know why HSUS has ignored the pleas for reform by so many of its own employees. I can only surmise, based on its reputation for prioritizing its public image over of the quality of its work, that HSUS doesn’t want to acknowledge the underlying organizational problems that have enabled these abuses to emerge and become normalized. One of these problems is incompetent management — leaders who have inadequate primate sanctuary experience and/or do not prioritize animal welfare, as explained in the following email.

Testimony of a Project Chimps contractor

I believe the Project Chimps’ whistleblowers, including the two who HSUS is now suing, not only because I’ve reviewed the extensive documentation they have provided on HelpTheChimps.org, but also because I’ve witnessed similar abuses, which continue in secrecy halfway around the world at HSUS’s chimpanzee sanctuary in Liberia. 

The Project Chimps whistleblowers meticulously documented the decline in care and their efforts to help the chimps

In 2015, the New York Blood Center (NYBC), which conducted research experiments on chimpanzees at a laboratory in Liberia, abandoned 66 survivors on six small islands on a nearby river. After seeing the starving chimps from a boat, an American scientist working in Liberia contacted HSUS to sound the alarm and ask for help.

To its credit, HSUS responded quickly, launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise money and hiring great ape experts with considerable sanctuary experience to oversee the chimps’ care. Jenny Desmond and her husband, Dr. Jim Desmond, who is a great ape veterinarian, put their lives on hold and moved to Liberia to address the emergency.

Under challenging circumstances, the Desmonds quickly improved the quality of life of the abandoned chimps, providing them with daily deliveries of fresh produce, enrichment activities to help occupy their time on the small islands, and birth control. Within weeks of the Desmonds’ arrival, the chimps’ demeanor changed. Instead of frantically running to the riverbanks in search of food when they heard the sound of a boat nearby, they began to peacefully saunter over because they knew that the boat was there for them and that it would be filled with food.

Even though they never met me, the Desmonds invited me to stay with them in Liberia so that I could see with my own eyes the stunning transformation of the chimps for whom we were protesting in NYC. During my visit, which took place in February, 2017, I could see that the Desmonds were doing an excellent job taking care of the chimps, especially in light of the difficult conditions in Liberia. Among the many daily challenges they faced were putting systems in place to care for captive chimps on six islands; managing a staff of Liberians who had just lived through a devastating Ebola epidemic; maintaining temperamental food delivery trucks and motor boats; and navigating complicated local politics. They were also living in government housing in a rural area without many of the basic amenities and necessities that we take for granted like a decent shower, air conditioning, a nearby grocery store, and a social infrastructure. I was impressed and humbled not only by their sacrifice, expertise, and work ethic, but also by how much they cared about the welfare of each chimp, as is so clearly demonstrated in this video:

In 2017, relations between the Desmonds and HSUS began to deteriorate because they refused HSUS’s demand to turn away chimpanzee orphans who Liberian forestry officials brought to them for sanctuary. These orphans were victims of the bushmeat and exotic pet trades. Providing a refuge was vital not only to welfare of the orphans, who had no place else to go, but also to the conservation of Liberia’s wild chimps. Without a sanctuary, the forestry authorities would have continued to turn a blind eye to the poaching of adult chimpanzees and the trafficking of babies.

The Desmonds took a principled stand, and HSUS did not renew their contract, leaving the care of the 66 chimps on the islands to locals who were not capable of providing the same level of care, especially in light of the fact that HSUS was unwilling to invest resources in the sanctuary. As a consequence, the welfare of the chimps rapidly deteriorated.

To make matters worse, HSUS prohibited the Desmonds from visiting the chimps on the islands, in spite of the fact that the chimps knew and trusted them. HSUS was more worried that the Desmonds would document the decline in care than they were about the care itself.

In May, 2017, our two-year, self-funded grassroots campaign demanding accountability from the New York Blood Center (NYBC) led to a $6 million settlement. True to form, HSUS’s Public Relations department in Washington, D.C. issued a press release taking credit for the historic settlement, making no mention of the activists in NYC who made it possible— activists who occupied corporate lobbies, disrupted meetings, and protested at the homes and offices of powerful billionaires, thereby compromising our safety and putting ourselves at risk of arrest and lawsuits. Our campaign, which ultimately compelled NYBC’s largest corporate donors (Citibank, MetLife, IBM) to issue public statements severing ties with NYBC, brought the organization to its knees.

HSUS took credit for a $6M settlement with the New York Blood Center in spite of the fact that it played virtually no role in securing it.

HSUS’s decision to take credit for the victory left the grass roots activists wondering, “What just happened?”  However, we accepted the betrayal, in silence, because the chimps were going to be safe – or at least we thought they were.

To add insult to injury, HSUS continued to fundraise off of the abandoned chimps, in spite of the fact that it had more than enough money to pay for their care with the $6 million settlement and the additional hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars it received in private donations and through fundraising efforts on its website and through a GoFundMe campaign. 

In an additional betrayal, HSUS hasn’t used the $6M to improve the care of the chimps. In fact, on my return visit to Liberia in November, 2018 (after HSUS severed ties with the Desmonds), I saw for myself not only the decline in the quality of the food and the lack of enrichment activities, but also that HSUS had not yet begun to build the desperately needed basic infrastructure, including holding areas and shelters on each island; an emergency enclosure and veterinary clinic at HSUS’s office; and security posts to protect both the chimps and humans. In fact, in the three years since receiving the $6 million settlement, HSUS hasn’t built even one structure, and the chimpanzees – off of whom they continue to raise money – are paying the price. 

Here’s just one example. In April, 2020, HSUS employees darted one of the chimps in need of veterinary care due to a snake bite; transported her off of the island; and moved her into one NYBC’s old lab cages because HSUS hadn’t created a proper holding facility. (HSUS’s office is on the same government property as NYBC’s old lab.) The Desmonds, who live nearby, said that the chimp, Comfort, was visibly traumatized not only because of her injury, but also by the fear that she was going to be used in experiments again.

After Comfort was bitten by a snake on one of the islands, HSUS darted her and moved her into one of the old concrete enclosures where she lived when she was used in experiments  by the NY Blood Center. HSUS has inexplicably not built a holding area for sick and injured chimpanzees in spite of receiving over $6M for their care.

Had HSUS built the proper infrastructure on the islands and at their offices, then Comfort’s injury could have been easily treated. Instead, she was subjected to surgery and moved back into a terrifying lab cage where she relived her experience as a research subject. After having two amputation surgeries, she died alone in a cage – away from her island family –  because HSUS has failed to do its job. 

The Desmonds, who remain in Liberia and are running a separate sanctuary with 59 chimpanzees rescued from the exotic pet trade, have attempted to share information about the inexcusable conditions at HSUS’s sanctuary, but lawyers retained by HSUS have sent letters threatening to sue them.

Jenny Desmond and Dr. Jim Desmond of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection

When conditions at the Liberia sanctuary began to deteriorate, I contacted HSUS and the Chairman of the Board, but my pleas for reform fell on deaf ears. They dismissed my concerns and said that I was misinformed in spite of the fact that I went to Liberia twice and witnessed the decline in care with my own eyes.

Given my firsthand knowledge of how HSUS treats its chimps and employees in Liberia, I was not surprised to learn about the abysmal conditions at Project Chimps in Georgia and the lawsuit filed by Project Chimps against two whistleblowers, Lindsay Vanderhoogt and Crystal Alba.

In 2018, Lindsay, a founding staff member and chimp caretaker, resigned from Project Chimps (see video below), and Crystal, a veterinary assistant, was fired in March, 2020, over her ongoing demands for reform. Knowing that the welfare standards would decline further without Crystal, both she and Lindsay continued to advocate for the chimps by calling for outside investigations and sounding the alarm about the abuses, which, at the time of Crystal’s departure, included appalling veterinary care (suspected untreated broken limbs, untreated deep wounds and parasitic infection); barren, concrete enclosures and porches devoid of enrichment where they spend the vast majority of their time; and infrequent access to the outdoor habitat. According to Crystal, one group of 14 chimps had no habitat access for eight months.

The whistleblowers documented the decline in care over time.

Crystal and Lindsay have provided explicit evidence of these and other avoidable abuses on HelpTheChimps.org. The devastating conditions they documented are what we would expect to see in a laboratory that exploits animals, not in a sanctuary that rescues them.

Improper pain management and delayed treatment are among the vet care problems identified by the whistleblowers

According to a statement on HSUS’s website, the sanctuary-accrediting organization Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) conducted an inspection at Project Chimps in response to the whistleblower complaints and, in its report, made a list of seven recommendations to improve animal welfare. The GFAS report not only validates some of the whistleblowers’ concerns, but it also begs the question of why HSUS’s Project Chimps is suing the whistleblowers instead of thanking them for calling attention to the problems.

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) made some of the same recommendations as the whistleblowers to to improve the welfare of the chimps

In addition to implementing GFAS’s recommendation and reforming the internal political environment that enabled the rapid decline in care to occur in the first place, HSUS needs to acknowledge that the whistleblowers were acting in the best interests of the chimps and pull the lawsuit, including the demand that Crystal and Lindsay pay Project Chimps’s legal bills.

Suing well-intended whistleblowers, some of whose complaints were validated by a GFAS inspection, is an irresponsible, unprofessional and unethical use of the organization’s resources. It’s also cruel and an insult to all of the people making contributions to help Crystal and Lindsay defend themselves in court.

In a statement on its website about its decision to sue Crystal and Lindsay, Project Chimps warns of media coverage about the controversy. Assuming HSUS is unable to kill these stories before they are published, as it is attempting to do, the coverage will likely help to vindicate them.

Excerpt from Project Chimps statement about whistleblowers

Amid this controversy, HSUS has posted a statement on its website distancing itself from Project Chimps. This is highly misleading. HSUS hosts Project Chimps’s email accounts, and the Project Chimps and HSUS email addresses are interchangeable (see below). HSUS is the organization’s primary funder, and six of Project Chimps’s 11 board members are either employed by or serve on the board of HSUS. In fact, the Vice President of Animal Research Issues at HSUS is the Vice President of the Board of Project Chimps.

In addition to reforming Project Chimps, HSUS needs to make significant infrastructure and management changes at its sanctuary in Liberia or transition the sanctuary to the Desmonds, who are already running a sanctuary just a few miles away and are well poised to build desperately needed infrastructure for the chimps and oversee their care on the islands.

On a final note, I regret not speaking out sooner. My silence was a betrayal not only of the chimps, who I knew were needlessly suffering, but also of the employees who HSUS has ignored, threatened, fired and sued for speaking out on behalf of the chimps. If HSUS doesn’t drop this lawsuit and prioritize the welfare of the chimps at its two sanctuaries, then I will continue to speak out and to protest, no matter what scare tactics they use in an effort to silence me.


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