Rocking. Screaming. Banging on the walls. Confined in cages near a parking lot.
This is some of what we heard and saw when we visited our seven chimpanzee clients in their place of confinement at the DeYoung Family Zoo in Michigan—the same facility that our first client, Tommy, was secretly transferred to before he died “curled up in his sleeping spot” inside a building, according to USDA records. It’s become clear that the USDA and other agencies responsible for overseeing this facility will not help these chimpanzees. Through our ongoing lawsuit seeking the chimpanzees’ right to liberty and public advocacy calling for their release to a sanctuary, these autonomous beings can still regain their freedom and dignity in a chimpanzee sanctuary.
We’ll share a date for the chimpanzees’ hearing as soon as we have it. Thank you for your time and advocacy!
Courtney Fern Director of Government Relations, the NhRP
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