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WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE VILAB II ISLAND SANCTUARY PROJECT FOR THE LONG TERM CONSERVATION OF CHIMPANZEES IN LIBERIA? 25 years ago, it was estimated that there were 200,000 chimpanzees living in the tropical rain forests in Liberia. Today the figure may be only a few thousand. This precipitous decline follows from the rapid expansion of logging, with attendant construction of logging roads throughout the forests. These roads permit farmers to enter the forest to create new farms. Farmers will shoot chimpanzees to protect their crops, for meat, and to sell the juveniles as pets. In addition, logging roads permit commercial hunters of "bushmeat" to travel easily into the depths of the forest and to carry out their catch to town and city markets by truck. An additional factor is the fact that logging itself drives chimpanzees away from their territory and into that of other groups, leading to much loss of life (Carolyn Tutin, Gabon, personal communication). The pace of logging, and expansion of agriculture in Liberia, is such that within a generation all of the original rain forest is likely to be destroyed, with the possible exception of that remaining in the Sapo National Park. Unfortunately the future of even the latter is not guaranteed due to the soaring value of the hardwoods within its 400 square miles. Thus it is likely that within a generation, chimpanzees in the wild will be extinct in Liberia, as well as in most of Africa. Chimpanzees on the island sanctuaries, supported by an endowment already exceeding $1 million, may be the only examples of their species observable under semi-wild conditions.
In addition, a recent report (Kay H. Farmer, The Final Step to Freedom:
Conkouati Chimpanzees Returned to the Wild, IPPL News, August 2000) documents
the surprising fact that island resocialized young adult chimpanzees were
successfully released and have survived for more than 3 years with only
minimal mortality in a forest in the Republic of Congo, which was populated
with a low population density of wild chimpanzees. If one or more National
Parks survives in Liberia, the Vilab II island sanctuary chimps could
be the source for the repopulation of chimpanzees to the wild in these
parks.
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BACKGROUND The laboratory of Virology, and its chimpanzee research facility (Vilab II), have been at the forefront of cutting edge research leading to ground-breaking patents and licenses that have played a large role in the financial survival of NYBC. For example the laboratory developed a practical screening method for hepatitis B, as well as a safe, effective and affordable vaccine for it. Of major significance for NYBC, the solvent/detergent (S/D) method for making virus free blood derivatives was developed as a result of basic research carried out by this laboratory, and at Vilab II. The S/D procedures were validated in studies involving more than 50 chimpanzees at its Liberian chimpanzee facility (Vilab II). This provided essential data for licensing by FDA. A PERMANENT SANCTUARY FOR VILAB II CHIMPANZEES: BACKGROUND Over the last century, millions of people have been able to live longer, healthier lives thanks to the medicines and vaccines that were tested on chimpanzees -- one of man’s closest relatives. Many vaccines have been perfected on chimps purposefully infected with diseases such as polio and hepatitis. Sadly, however, chimpanzees have received little thanks for the knowledge they have allowed us to gain. Once their work is over their futures are grim: they often live out their lives, which can last for an average of 50 years, in cramped cages or laboratories. It is against this background that, people are increasingly joining a movement to create sanctuaries for these "surplus" animals, allowing them to spend the rest of their long lives with greater dignity and freedom. Suddenly faced with the huge ethical and economic problems of what to do with so many surplus chimpanzees (each chimp costs roughly $10,000 a year to maintain in the U.S.), the National Research Council issued a report in 1997 advising Congress against euthanizing the chimps, calling instead for some way of properly repaying them for services rendered. With the urging of a consortium of animal-welfare organizations known as the National Chimpanzee Research Retirement Task Force, and with support from numerous laboratories and various zoological organizations, the Chimp Act passed unanimously. The Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (or Chimp) Act, passed in the final days of the Clinton administration. The law provides a retirement program for chimpanzees that have participated in medical research. The bill allotted an initial $30 million, pending matching funds from private donations, for the construction of a facility, which, with future expansions, could house as many as 750 chimps and serve as a template for the nationwide ''system of sanctuaries'' mandated by Congress to accommodate the country's growing number of surplus chimpanzees. Unfortunately, the Chimp act applies only to chimpanzees in the U.S.
Vilab II has acquired from the Liberian government six 10-90 acre islands in nearby rivers and pioneered methods to release groups of 15-30 animals onto each of these islands. Release onto islands began in 1978 and sowed the seeds for an ultimate permanent sanctuary. During the next 28 years, Vilab personnel gained considerable expertise in the rehabilitation and release process. By 1990, the released animals were well adjusted to their island habitat. Most adult females had given birth to and were successfully rearing at least one offspring. Although the animals had learned to eat the wild fruits on the islands, it was necessary to supplement their diet and during the dry season, and to provide water. The largest island was divided into three by the construction of two canals. This was a project of several years duration and required extensive manpower and continual maintenance (cutting back of mangrove, maintaining transects.) The last of these canals was completed and a sixth group of animals had just been released at the start of the dry season in 1990, unfortunately coinciding with the onset of the civil war in 1990. During the civil war it became necessary to return all animals on the islands to Vilab II, as the rivers were too dangerous to permit Vilab II staff to feed the animals. Since the end of the civil war in Liberia, Vilab II began to releasing animals to the islands again. Since the closure of Vilab II as a research facility in 2006, all of the remaining chimps have been resocialized into large groups and all are now released on the island. OBTAINING THE FUNDS TO OPERATE THE SANCTUARY Click here for the Financial Projections for a Sanctuary
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