Animal Rights Activists Protest Humane Society Board Member Sharon Lee Patrick over Animal Cruelty at Project Chimps
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
You may also like:
Animal Rights Activists Protest HSUS Board Member Brad Jakeman Over Animal Cruelty at Project Chimps and Lawsuit Against Whistleblowers 
Animal Rights Activists Protest HSUS Board Chair Susan Atherton Over Cruelty at Project Chimps Sanctuary 
Activists Protest INSIDE Office of NY Blood Center Board Member Owen Garrick 
NYBC Board Member Michael Hodin, an Advocate for the Aging, Abandons Elderly Chimps 
Animal Rights Activists Protest NY State Veterinary Medical Society Over its Support of Declawing
I will let all my family and friends know not to donate to HSUS anymore until they verifiable improve living conditions at Project Chimps. Sharon Patrick needs to spend the majority of donations on the animals, like many other animal rescue organizations do!
All it takes to solve this problem is a bit more funding and greater attention by HSUS and the people that run the sanctuary. HSUS needs to focus more on spending their money than soliciting it.
Sounds like Abortion Drs treat embroys
Sharon Patrick earned her fortune running Martha Stewart’s media empire for 20 years. I wonder what Martha would say if informed about the documented cruelty at Project Chimps.
I also want to add my voice to protest this disgusting facade!
utterly digusting!
h$u$ is part of the animal exploitation industry disguised as an AR charity and reaps huge profits off of the suffering and death of the very victims whom they supposedly exist to protect.
how many hundreds of millions of dollars do they have in the bank yet they refuse to spend any of it to actually help animals and instead are solely focused on increasing their wealth.