January 21, 2011 • Posted in Project R&R News
NEAVS’ Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Labs YouTube video, as well as footage of chimpanzees from the Fauna Foundation, opened last week’s CNN’s ISSUES with Jane Velez-Mitchell. The show, which aired on Friday, 1/14 at 7pm EST, focused on the victory—at least for now—for the Alamogordo chimpanzees. (See our January 5th eAlert for more information on the National Institutes of Health’s decision to halt their plans to move the Alamogordo chimpanzees to the Southwest National Primate Research Center for use in invasive research.) If you missed the show, you can watch it now on the CNN website.
The segment included an interview with Laura Bonar of Animal Protection of New Mexico (APNM). APNM has been working on the local and state level to save the Alamogordo chimpanzees, in addition to the efforts of NEAVS and other national groups.
A NEAVS member helped arrange the CNN interview, which reached millions of viewers who now know a lot more about the plight of not only the Alamogordo chimpanzees, but all chimpanzees currently held in U.S. labs. (If you or someone you know can also help us get the word out to your local or national media outlets, please contact us at info@neavs.org—members help us move mountains for the animals all the time, and we thank you for that!)
Host Jane Velez-Mitchell, well-known for her animal and environmental advocacy, urged viewers to “Tell your congress members and senators we don’t want our tax dollars used to torture these highly sensitive, highly intelligent cousins of mankind.… Now, the Great Ape Protection Act is gathering support. It would ban all invasive research on chimps. And a growing number of scientists say chimp research is actually holding back medical progress because it’s getting all the research money that should be focused on more sophisticated, cutting edge research methods ….”
Contact CNN to thank them and Jane Velez-Mitchell for this timely coverage of an issue for which the American public and U.S. legislators are showing enormous and growing support. Thank them for reminding viewers that while the Alamogordo chimpanzees are safe for the time being, the only way to save all chimpanzees from invasive research for good is to pass the Great Ape Protection Act. And please ask your U.S. representative and senators to cosponsor the bill today!
Tags: Alamogordo, Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, tax dollars,