23 Mar 2023 Visit to Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge Liberia

We recently visited Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge Liberia thanks to the courtesy from its director and senior veterinarian, Richard K. Ssuna.

In 1974, the New York Blood Center (NYBC), a U.S. organization dedicated to blood-related research and medical services, built a laboratory in Liberia and began experimenting on chimpanzees. In the past, chimpanzees were considered ideal subjects for biomedical research because they share more than 98% of their DNA with humans.

Over the next three decades, more than 400 chimpanzees were kept in laboratory cages while being used for painful and invasive experiments related to the search for a hepatitis B vaccine and blood cleansing techniques.

However, ethical concerns grew as increasing evidence of chimpanzees’ intelligence and complex social skills became known and scientific data demonstrated that chimpanzees are not ideal research subjects. As a result, laboratories experimenting on chimpanzees began to close.

In the early 2000s, the NYBC began eliminating chimpanzee experiments and moving them to nearby islands at the mouth of the Farmington River on the Grand Bassa County border. The islands did not provide enough food or fresh water, so the chimps were dependent on humans for survival. No infrastructure had been built on the islands to care for the chimps before moving them there.

In 2015, the lab withdrew funding for the chimpanzees’ upkeep, and the conservation organization Humane Society International stepped in to provide emergency care for the more than 60 chimpanzees still alive and generate a pressure campaign on NYBC. Since then, HSI Liberia has assumed responsibility for the lifelong care of these animals, some of which could live more than 50 years. In 2017, HS USA reached an agreement with NYBC whereby NYBC committed to fund half the cost of caring for the chimpanzees until the end of their days.

During our visit, we were able to share a day with part of their team, Larry Zulu, Tarweh C. Jallah, and Junius V. Cooper. Cooper.

Tarweh showed us the facilities at their headquarters, where we were able to see the food stores and the weekly diets. Larry took us to see how the construction of their new headquarters is progressing, aimed to provide the best services to workers and with a chimpanzee rehabilitation sanctuary. Junius told us about each of the chimpanzees, whom he has known by name since 1998.

We had the chance to visit three of the islands where the chimpanzees live and to see the dedication and respect that this team has for these animals.