"The real question at issue here is not whether imprisoning and experimenting on chimpanzees is scientifically useful to humans or not; it is whether doing so is right to begin with.~ Justin Goodman; "Research on Chimpanzees Must End"
Chimpanzees are social creatures. They have culture, they have emotions, feelings, care for their families... the following is very difficult to handle (I cried when reading this) but neccessary to know in order to help change the U.S. practice of experimenting on chimpanzees. The U.S., as the article points out, is only one of two countries who do so.
As a result of having to endure the terror and pain of having their bodies routinely violated for experiments and the loneliness of their tiny, barren steel-and-concrete prison cells, many chimpanzees exhibit abnormal behaviors indicative of depression and post-traumatic stress. They suffer from symptoms including social withdrawal, anxiety and loss of appetite. They pull out their own hair, bite themselves and pace incessantly. I recently met a sanctuary-living chimpanzee who spent years being tormented at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention and other government laboratories. His medical records show that on several occasions, he almost died during experiments, only to be revived and tormented further. Years later, he still has violent screaming fits several times daily, during which he scratches and tears into the flesh on his head and chest. This is the real legacy of chimpanzee experimentation in the United States.
Research on Chimpanzees Must End
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