Project R&R is continuing to raise awareness and secure the release of all chimpanzees remaining in U.S. labs into sanctuary.

Project R&R successfully led the charge to end the use of chimpanzees in U.S. biomedical research and testing in 2013. Our focus is now on providing former laboratory chimpanzees restitution in sanctuary. Project R&R achieved its goal for an end to harmful, invasive, and lethal research on all great apes in the U.S.—the largest holding of chimpanzees for use in research in the world.

Chimpanzees, our closest genetic relatives, share approximately 96-98% of our DNA. In their intelligence, social lives, and complex emotions, we see ourselves. Chimpanzees in U.S. labs endured lives filled with suffering, fear, and abject boredom. In most cases, this mistreatment lasted for decades, sometimes even their entire lives. Hundreds have already been released but some remain in labs, which are reluctant to give them up because of the still-lucrative housing and maintenance grants they are awarded. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) refuses to release federal dollars to expand the capacity of our federal sanctuary, Chimp Haven. It is up to us, the caring public, to help expand existing sanctuary space, build new facilities, and provide for the chimps' lifetime care. While the NIH offers a portion of the funding for federally "retired" chimpanzees, hundreds of others rely on the generosity of the public to help provide for their lifetime care.

577 Chimpanzees—Waiting

As of Fall 2020, 500 chimpanzees remain confined in U.S. laboratories. The current count can be found at TheLast1000. Many were born in labs or were sent from zoos, circuses, and animal trainers. Others began their lives in the wild of Africa but were captured as babies. A number of these chimpanzees had been taught to communicate using sign language or were raised in family settings—only to be forced into biomedical experimentation when funding ran out, or they became too strong to manage. For all of them, life in a lab means confinement, fear, suffering, and endless boredom.

Unethical Science

Humans betrayed their next of kin and left many chimps in an ethical blind spot. Each of these vulnerable chimpanzees has a special face, personality, and story. Those who have survived laboratories and are now in sanctuary give us a glimpse into their individuality and the suffering we have erroneously sanctioned.

Unnecessary Science

Chimpanzee research has been shown to be unnecessary and even dangerous to human medical advances. The scientific community is in a debate about the usefulness of chimpanzee research in studying human health and disease.

Although chimpanzees have 96-98% of the same DNA as humans, they differ significantly from us—like all other species used to study human health and disease. These differences can result in crucial disparities in the way illnesses occur or progress between the two species, and in how we respond to drugs and treatments.

Chimpanzees as Ambassadors 

Project R&R  has long advocated that the scientific code of ethics for research be expanded to include non-human species. Achieving that goal will take years. But one species—the chimpanzee, increasingly acknowledged as so “like us”—is in a unique position to lead the way.

"Chimpanzees suffer no less, I promise you." 
-Jen Feuerstein, former Yerkes Primate Research Center caregiver

"The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures."
-Dr. Christiaan Barnard, world’s first human-to-human heart transplant surgeon after killing a chimpanzee to use as a heart donor

As ambassadors between humans and other animals, chimpanzees can open the door to greater compassion for all non-human species whose lives and wills are destroyed in the name of science.

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