AAP Foundation

David van Gennep, Director
AAP Foundation
P.O. Box 50313
1305 AH Almere
The Netherlands

http://www.aap.nl/english/

Located in Almere, Netherlands, the AAP is a European sanctuary that provides professional care, rehabilitation, and housing for exotic animals. For over thirty years, this not-for-profit organization has served as a safe haven for animals who came from illegal trade, research laboratories, circuses, illegal zoos, or from private people as exotic pets.

In 2005, AAP built a Chimpanzee Complex in Almere to provide permanent shelter and re-socialization habitat for chimpanzees from laboratories. In September 2006, 28 chimpanzees infected with HIV and/or Hepatitis C were transferred from the Biomedical Primate Research Center (BPRC) in Rijswijk, Netherlands to the AAP sanctuary in Almere. This occurred as part of an agreement with the Dutch government, who in 2002 banned the use of great apes in biomedical research. The Government also agreed to provide funding for building materials and the lifetime care of the chimpanzees. The AAP Chimpanzee Complex has room for over 50 chimpanzees and provides permanent housing for the 28 BPRC chimpanzees.

In order for AAP to accommodate the increasing number of non-human primates they receive who require permanent housing- particularly chimpanzees, AAP created a retirement plan that includes the construction of a Life Time Care Center called Primadomus, which is located on nearly 450 acres near Villena, Spain. In November 2009, the center welcomed its first re-socialized group of 10 healthy chimpanzees. Eventually, Primadomus will be able to accommodate approximately 150 animals, 70 being chimpanzees. The 28 infected chimpanzees formally from BPRC will remain at the Netherlands AAP special care facility because of their infectious status, which does not allow them to leave The Netherlands.

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