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Coulston Campaign Archive

The Coulston Foundation (TCF), a large primate testing laboratory based in Alamogordo, NM, first came to IDA's attention in 1993 when a leading scientist approached us with concerns about the Air Force's plans to give 144 chimpanzees to this laboratory. IDA has been investigating TCF since that time, and we have uncovered a shocking trail of negligence, cruelty and abuse at this laboratory.

TCF is the largest colony of captive chimpanzees in the world, with 650 of these intelligent and complex animals under its control. The lab uses chimps, monkeys and other animals in tests of chemicals, drugs and infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. TCF's founder is Frederick Coulston, an 85-year old toxicologist with a long history of testing toxic chemicals and drugs on chimpanzees. Dr. Coulston has publicly stated his desire to use expand the use of chimpanzees in research and has suggested that they could be "raised like cattle" and used as organ and blood banks for human beings.

Over the past five years, IDA has developed a network of confidential whistleblowers within TCF that has helped us expose egregious abuses and violations of federal law there. As a direct result of IDA's investigations – which have included whistleblower revelations as well as our own research – the U.S. Department of Agriculture has three times brought federal charges against TCF for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

TCF is the only lab ever to be charged three times with violations of the Animal Welfare Act. On August 24, 1999, TCF entered into an unprecedented settlement agreement with the USDA that orders the lab to divest itself of 300 chimpanzees, essentially halt all breeding and acquisition of chimpanzees, and submit to oversight by outside animal care monitors. A $100,000 fine was also assessed against the lab, but it is being held in abeyance unless TCF fails to comply with any of the terms of the settlement.

In addition to being the unprecedented USDA actions, The Coulston Foundation has seen its revenue decrease significantly since IDA began its five-year campaign. The lab's private client base has apparently dwindled to less than a handful of pharmaceutical and medical device companies.And, between January and September 1999, TCF lost three federal contracts (two with the National Institutes of Health and one with the Food and Drug Administration) that accounted for nearly 50 percent of the foundation's revenue in Fiscal Year 1997-1998.

The likely prospect of TCF's financial collapse, and the USDA settlement decree that forces the lab to divest of 300 chimpanzees, have presented animal protection advocates with an unparalleled opportunity to permanently free hundreds of chimpanzees from the confines of a research laboratory.

Unfortunately, there are no existing sanctuaries with the facilities and funding necessary to care for this large number of chimpanzees. As a result, IDA's campaign against TCF has taken a two-pronged approach. While we continue to keep the pressure on TCF through investigations, regulatory action and public outcry, we are also concentrating on efforts to pass legislation in the U.S. Congress to create a federally supported network of sanctuaries for retired research chimpanzees.

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