Woody Harrelson Pleads for Chimpanzees' Safe Return From Texas Lab

For Immediate Release:
January 20, 2011

Contact:
Amanda Schinke 757-622-7382

Albuquerque, N.M.--Actor Woody Harrelson has joined PETA in cheering the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) decision to shelve its plans to transfer 186 chimpanzees from Alamogordo, N.M., to a laboratory in the actor's home state of Texas for use in invasive and painful infectious disease experiments. This morning, Harrelson sent an urgent letter on PETA's behalf to NIH Director Francis Collins and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius asking them also to return the 14 chimpanzees from Alamogordo who were transferred to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio last year.

Writes Harrelson, "These aging chimpanzees … have endured decades of violence and torment, having been used in everything from space experiments to high-velocity seat belt tests. Only in the last few years have they enjoyed bedding, fruit, toys, the touch and companionship of other chimpanzees, and freedom from the knife. Will you please return the 14 chimpanzees … to these simple pleasures and allow them to continue the rehabilitation that they have more than earned?"

Woody Harrelson's letter to NIH Director Francis Collins and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius follows. For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.

January 20, 2011

The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave. S.W.
Washington, DC 20201

The Honorable Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
National Institutes of Health
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20892

Dear Madam Secretary and Dr. Collins,

I was pleased to learn from my friends at PETA that the government has shelved plans to send 186 chimpanzees from Alamogordo, N.M., to a laboratory in my home state of Texas, where they would have been used in painful infectious disease experiments. While I thank you from the bottom of my heart for granting a reprieve to these animals, I ask that you extend the same mercy to the 14 chimpanzees who were transferred to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) last year and immediately return them to Alamogordo.

These aging chimpanzees have been imprisoned for their entire lives. They have endured decades of violence and torment, having been used in everything from space experiments to high-velocity seat belt tests. Only in the last few years have they enjoyed bedding, fruit, toys, the touch and companionship of other chimpanzees, and freedom from the knife. Will you please return the 14 chimpanzees at SFBR to these simple pleasures and allow them to continue the rehabilitation that they have more than earned?

Will you let me know your decision regarding this urgent matter as soon as possible? Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Woody Harrelson