Animal Rights Groups Call for New Leadership at HSUS’s Project Chimps
The News
Multiple animal advocacy groups are calling on the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to replace the current leader of its chimpanzee sanctuary with an Executive Director who has chimpanzee experience (petition). The sanctuary, Project Chimps, was thrust into the national spotlight in May, 2020, when 22 employees and volunteers sent a letter to the Board of Directors to sound the alarm about poor veterinary care, overcrowding, a lack of sufficient enrichment and infrequent access to the outdoors. The death of Alex, a chimpanzee whose symptoms were ignored by Project Chimps leadership, has created an added sense of urgency around this demand.
“While Project Chimps has made some cosmetic changes as a result of increased public scrutiny and primatologist Steve Ross’s blistering critique of its welfare management programs, the organization’s leadership continues needlessly compromise the health and wellbeing of the chimpanzees,” said Crystal Alba, a whistleblower who the organization sued in 2020. “Until it is managed by someone who has chimpanzee experience and who prioritizes animal welfare, Project Chimps will continue to fail the chimpanzees in its care.”
In January, 2020, HSUS conducted an internal investigation of its sanctuary after receiving complaints about animal mistreatment by employees. In her report, Katie Conlee, HSUS’s Vice President of Animal Research Issues, wrote, “the root causes of various problems appear to be inadequate management.”
The Humane Society’s internal investigation of Project Chimps revealed that “the root causes of various problems appear to be inadequate management.”
An inspection conducted by an external expert in October and November also exposed deficiencies in the organization’s leadership. Dr. Steve Ross, a renowned primatologist, gave Project Chimps a D grade (67%) on its welfare management programs as part of his highly anticipated assessment of the sanctuary. Welfare management programs are the responsibility of the organization’s leadership.
Dr. Steve Ross, a renowned primatologist, gave Project Chimps a D grade on its welfare management programs, which are the responsibility of the organization’s Executive Director
In 2020, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) took the unusual step of issuing public statements calling for reform at Project Chimps, though neither made specific recommendations regarding the organization’s leadership.
Animal rights groups, including The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), have called on HSUS to improve animal welfare at Project Chimps
At Project Chimps, the 78 chimpanzees have access to an outdoor habitat for approximately 10 hours per week. For the remainder of the time, they are held in concrete enclosures. Local and national animal advocacy groups are calling on Project Chimps to create additional habitats so that the chimps have daily access to the outdoors.
Roxy and Lindsey, two of the 78 chimpanzees at HSUS’s Project Chimps facility in Georgia
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Shelly,
Yes protesting outside someone’s house and harassing their neighbors so they well bow to a groups demands no matter what they are is indeed a mob and a call for violence. I wouldn’t expect someone who sees nothing wrong with to understand.
Next is your house.
@Not At My House – Warning of violence? Lynch mobs? Frightening families? Making life living hell? I think you’re reacting to something else, not to the occasional, short, legal protests during which all of the mask-wearing participants are calling on someone to treat animals humanely.
Protesting at people’s home is not about asserting an opinion. It is a warning of potential violence. It implies, “until you do justice here, your life is going to be a living hell.” It is especially ironic that the activists that so often campaigns against an “evil” being done is increasingly using personal intimidation as a political weapon. Protesting at people’s homes, frightening their families and children, isn’t what democracy looks like. It’s what lynch mobs and bullying look like. Civilized people of all political beliefs should demand an end to it.
Hey Joan! How many Protests do you have at abortion clinics since you value life so much?
And enough with your “Rich people don’t care crap!”. If you cared for anyone but yourself at all you would check your ego at the door.
Wow you really need a Psychiatrist. None in Queens? Just reading what you write you definitely need help. Your words and awful stereotype of people who live on the UES proves you don’t care about Chimps; you just don’t like people who live Manhattan? Why? Jealousy is a horrible sin.
ENOUGH WITH THE SUPER SPREADER SHIT! ITS LIKE WE’RE EATING OUTSIDE AT A SOCIAL DISTANCE! AND ITS DAMN COLD! SO WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?
AND YET ANOTHER UPPER EAST SIDER! LIKE YOU PEOPLE ARE SO RIGHT WITH THE LAW! LOOK AT THE SMALL GROUP OF ANIMAL RIGHTS PEOPLE? AND YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE DOMESTIC ISIS WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY NOW? WELL, IT AIN’T US ANIMAL RIGHTS PEOPLE! YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE SCUM OF THE EARTH? YOU GOT THAT RIGHT IN YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD! SO DON’T TELL ME HOW GREAT YOUR AREA IS, BECAUSE I USE TO WORK THERE! YOU’RE NOT AN ISLAND UNTO YOURSELVES! I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU PEOPLE SAY WHAT YOU’RE SAYING HERE TO US, TO THOSE OTHER GROUPS OUT THERE, THAT WALKED THRU YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD A FEW MONTHS AGO. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARE NOT THE FALL GUY FOR YOUR CONTEMPT FOR OTHERS! AND YOU KNOW DAMN WELL, WE AIN’T NO CULT! TRY THAT ON SOMEONE ELSE! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU’RE NOT A LOW LIFE YOURSELF? I GUESS IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE, REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU LIVE!
I agree on the chimps but I do not agree on harassing and stereotyping a whole neighborhood because of it. If these COVID spreaders came to your neighborhood you would feel different. Stop the spread. Stay home
ANOTHER UPPER EAST SIDE PERSON! SAYING SOMETHING STUPID LIKE GET A JOB, WHEN MOST OF US DO HAVE A JOB OR ARE RETIRED, DOESN’T MAKE YOUR POINT OF VIEW VALID! YOU’RE JUST UPSET, BECAUSE YOU RICH PEOPLE, DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYBODY, BUT YOURSELVES. IF THE LAW SAYS YOU CAN PROTEST WITH YOUR VOICE, LIKE SOME OTHER GROUPS HAVE DONE THE LAST FEW MONTHS, THEN CHANGE THE LAW! AND WHO ARE YOU TO TELL PEOPLE TO STAY AWAY FROM EAST 84TH STREET? YOU MAKE ME WANT TO GO OUT AND USE MY VOICE TOO, EVEN THOUGH I’M DISABLED! THE DNA OF THE CHIMPS ARE CLOSEST TO US HUMANS, SO UNLESS YOU’RE THE STUPID ONE, WE ARE ALL THE SAME! I USE TO WORK ON THE UPPER EAST SIDE, SO YOUR BITCHY ATTITUDE DOESN’T SURPRISE ME!
I also know how you COVID super spreaders are. Now we have people in the neighborhood and buildings close by who have COVID symptoms and they are all linked it to your riots. And your stereotypes about people who live in this area shows what low-lifes your are….you are just out to harass people you don’t agree with and don’t give a crap about the common good. Stay Home and Stay Safe. You and your cult leader should be ashamed.
OH POOR, UPPER EAST SIDE MOMMY, WHO IS UPSET OVER HER KIDS BEING SCARED? GET OVER IT LADY! THIS IS NYC AND I’M SURE THERE ARE WORSE THINGS YOUR KIDS, WHATEVER THEIR AGE, ARE SCARED AND WORRIED ABOUT! OR YOU SHOULD BE! ALTHOUGH I AM DISABLED, BY YOUR TONE OF VOICE, IT MAKES ME WANT TO JOIN THE GROUP, WITH MY MELODIOUS VOICE! I’M SURE YOU WOULD APPRECIATE IT! NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY, WE ARE IN THE CONFINES OF THE LAW, SO YOU’LL HAVE TO WORK ON CHANGING THE LAW! YOU SHOULD BE LUCKY, ITS NOT SOME OF THE OTHER GROUPS THAT PROTESTED THE LAST FEW MONTHS. I USED TO WORK ON THE UPPER EAST SIDE, SO I KNOW HOW YOU RICH PEOPLE ARE!
So your idea of helping chimps is to harass a whole block on 84th street? Your idea of helping is to expose others walking or living on the block to COVID? It’s a pandemic for goodness sakes. Do want people to come to your neighborhood and harass you for something your neighbor is doing? Because I am pretty sure you live around some scum. Get a job and stay away. You are the chimps in this case and probably have less of an IQ then them.
Before showing up on 84th Street, we spent months engaging in other tactics in an effort to help the chimpanzees, but your neighbor Sharon Lee Patrick and her colleagues on the Board of Directors of the Humane Society have refused to even acknowledge the problems, much less address them. Perhaps she will listen to you. As an aside, if you were one of these beleaguered chimps, who was promised a humane retirement after spending 30 years in a lab cage, then I’m sure you would want us to raise our voices on your behalf.
Don’t come back to my neighborhood again and scare my children. You people are worse than those who you harass. Learn some respect for others and maybe one day people will take you seriously.
Great and amazing post. Thanks for posting.