First 10 ex-space chimps arrive at Primarily Primates
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1999:
SAN ANTONIO––The first 10 chimpanzees
of 31 former members of the NASA colony who are to
be retired to Primarily Primates arrived on December 28.
All females, of ages ranging from 25 to mid-forties, the
group reportedly settled in easily, and are expected to
help those who follow to feel at home.
Five, transported ahead of the other five,
spent a week at the Southwest Foundation for
Biomedical Research, also in San Antonio, while the
Primarily Primates crew rushed to finish their quarters.
But that should be the last any of them ever see of confinement
at a research facility. Many have spent most of
their lives in close confinement, often in isolation. At
Primarily Primates, they will be housed in semi-natural
troupes, with both indoor and outdoor living areas,
from which they can come and go as they please.
The newcomers soon discovered a 24-foot
enclosed climbing tower.