Dedicated man cares for former lab chimps in Liberia

[Catherine]

On an island in Liberia, there live over 60 former US lab chimps.  These animals were used in various tests and then they were abandoned, on an island where they cannot survive without help. The New York Blood Centre, the group that used these chimps, ran out of money and no longer provides for them.


Joseph Thomas, with the help of a caring team and money from Humane Society International, visits the island every day to bring fresh food and water and care for these chimps. It has taken time to earn the chimps trust and to get to know them. Because of Joseph Thomas and Humane Society International these chimps are able to live their lives in peace, free from hunger.


https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsan...n-liberia/

The dedication of Joseph Thomas is incredible. Year after year in all weather and even during the civil war he continued to care for the chimps. They need the help. They can't survive where they were abandoned without human help. I admire the dedication of the people helping the chimps. This does however emphasize one the problems of using animals in lab tests. What about the animals after you are finished using them. Putting aside the fact that they should never have been used in this way, labs should be required to provide for the long term care of the animals they have used.  Perhaps they should be required to have enough money in trust for animal care before they even bring the animals into the lab. Sadly that has not been done because lab animals are too often killed or in this case abandoned.