"Seattle, Washington - Seven chimpanzees who have spent most of their lives as medical testing subjects are on their way to new lives at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) in Cle Elum, WA. The group, known as “the Buckshire Seven,” is expected to arrive on Friday, June 13, 2008.

Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra, ages 25-35, are coming to CSNW from the Buckshire Corporation of Perkasie, PA. The Buckshire Seven will be the first chimpanzee residents of CSNW, a private non-profit organization founded in 2003.

The chimpanzees are making the trip across the country in an air-conditioned truck designed for this type of transport. They will spend the remainder of their lives living as a group at CSNW’s specially-designed chimpanzee house which features spacious accommodations, windows, catwalks and an outdoor area – things they never had as research subjects.

When learning about the Bucksire Seven’s release to a better life, world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall said, “I am very pleased to hear that these seven chimpanzees' time in the laboratory is coming to an end.”

The Buckshire Seven are the last remaining chimpanzees at Buckshire and represent the turn away from using chimpanzees in invasive medical research. Chimpanzees are very expensive to care for, and research into human diseases using chimpanzees has not yielded the results once thought possible. Not only is chimpanzee research impractical, it also raises significant ethical issues. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, long-lived animals who differ genetically from humans by only a few degrees. Many companies, and even countries, have banned or significantly curtailed the use of chimpanzees for invasive medical research. A recent bill introduced to the U.S. Congress would ban the practice in the United States.

"This day has been a long time coming and a dream come true for everyone involved with making CSNW a reality," said Keith LaChappelle, Founding Director of CSNW. “Providing sanctuary for these individuals is just the first step in our mission to protect chimpanzees from abuse and misuse in the medical testing and entertainment industries.”


Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest provides lifetime quality care for formerly abused or exploited chimpanzees, while advocating for great apes through education and collaboration. For more information, please visit www.chimpsanctuarynw.org.

To learn more about Dr. Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute, please visit www.janegoodall.org."