The animals in laboratories

Today is World Day for Animals in Laboratories. Perhaps you’ll take a moment with me to remember these animals and reflect on their welfare. Not easy emotions to sit with.

My point of reference here is space research, with its long history of working with animals. While today “bots before boots” is the catchphrase for manned lunar and mars exploration programs, in the early days of space research it was “chimpanzees before men."

The Mercury Chimpanzee Program began in October of 1958 with the mission to test the life support systems of the mercury spacecraft as well as the effects of spaceflight on the body. There were 65 chimpanzees in the colony overseen by the Aeromedical Research Laboratory at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. By April 1959, a small group of these young chimpanzees began daily training and conditioning for space flight, eventually undergoing the same simulations as the Mercury 7 astronauts. By early 1960, six chimpanzees, including Ham, were well on their way to being rated space-flight ready.

Life Magazine photographer Ralph Crane visited the Laboratory on a couple of occasions to capture the work with the Holloman chimpanzees. The images give you a sense of what it was like for them, including some of the tougher moments. Black and white photographs of baby chimpanzees in training boxes, with oxygen masks covering their heads, being put into the high-altitude chamber, or sitting alone on little chairs in cavernous warehouse space.

But you know the photos that always get me? It’s the ones of the baby chimps with their handlers … holding the young airman’s hands as they wait for breakfast, hugging the airman’s knees before climbing into the training chair, and the one of Ham and another chimp running out of their cage into an airman’s arms. The small moments.

It’s messy, this history of animals in the US space program. Was the use of chimpanzees in aeromedical research justified at the time? What were the assumptions and concepts it relied upon? Was it ethical? At what point was it not?

And, lest we forget, the Mercury Chimpanzee Program was happening in the larger context of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement. Space exploration at a time of polarizing social and political changes —much like today.

Knowing this history, I feel a bit wiser, stronger — better prepared as an artist interested in our relationships with animals and the health of the planet.

So, gratitude to the animals in laboratories that make so much possible and to the staff who care for them. Appreciation for those, such as the North American 3Rs Collaborative, who work to refine, reduce and replace animals in scientific research. And a special shout out to the Animal Research Nexus, a project in the UK that works to develop better understanding of the complex relationships between animals, science and society — in order to promote more ethical and effective approaches to animal research.

To honor animals in laboratories this week, perhaps you’ll consider joining me in supporting:

The North American 3Rs Collaborative https://www.na3rsc.org

Save The Chimps — https://savethechimps.org

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest https://chimpsnw.org

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) https://www.nonhumanrights.org