In 2006, the New York Blood Center (NYBC) announced the decision to end their use of chimpanzees in research and close the Vilab II chimpanzee research facility in Liberia. According to the Hepatitis Research Foundation (HRF), associated with NYBC, Vilab’s remaining 74 chimpanzees would be resocialized into groups and released into the Liberia Chimpanzee Sanctuary, also known as the Vilab II Island Sanctuary Project, pending the completion of existing protocols. For example, in 2007, HRF completed a chimpanzee vaccine trial involving hepatitis B and C viruses, with human clinical trials scheduled to begin in 2008 when “chimpanzee research [would] no longer [be] needed.” The NYBC purchased more than six islands off the coast of Liberia as sanctuary for the chimpanzees.
In May 2017, NYBC reached a deal with the Humane Society of the United States to care for its retired chimpanzees. (1)