Law requires former research chimps to be retired at a federal sanctuary, court says

A chimp walks at Chimp Haven in Louisiana. A federal judge has ruled that the NIH violated the law when it chose not to move former research chimpanzees in New Mexico to the sanctuary. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

A federal judge has ruled that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the law when it determined that former research chimpanzees in New Mexico would not move to a sanctuary in Louisiana known as Chimp Haven.

After the NIH stopped supporting invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees in 2015, it started transferring chimps from research centers to Chimp Haven, a 200-acre property with a staff of dozens who care for more than 300 chimps.