These Chimps Helped Us Find a Hepatitis Vaccine. Now They've Been Left to Die
WRITTEN BY KALEIGH ROGERS
May 28, 2015 // 09:11 PM EST
On a string of tiny islands in the middle of a river in Liberia, dozens of chimpanzees await an increasingly bleak future. The swampy jungle islands provide the chimps no food, no water, and because chimps aren’t strong swimmers, no means of escape. The apes aren’t from the islands, but for the last 10 years, the islands have been their home. Now they’re in danger of starving there.
Placed on the islands by human hands, the chimps rely on human caretakers to provide food and water in order to survive. But earlier this year, the US nonprofit that left these retired research chimps on islands in the middle of the war-torn and Ebola-ravaged African nation of Liberia pulled the funding required to ensure their care. In 2005, the New York Blood Center left its research chimps to retire with a promise of lifetime care on an island. In March, it abandoned them for somebody else to worry about.
The 66 chimps are currently surviving on a reduced feeding schedule paid for through emergency funds pieced together by the Humane Society and the personal donations of a handful of individual conservationists. But they only have enough money to support the chimps’ care for a few more weeks.
Now, a collective of conservationists and researchers that includes the Jane Goodall Institute, Born Free, and the Humane Society has launched an online campaign to raise enough money to bridge the gap while they seek a long-term solution and urge the NYBC to reinstate its support. They've launched a GoFundMe page to collect money for the chimps and a Change.org petition to send letters demanding the NYBC reestablish support.
more
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/these-chimps-helped-us-find-a-hepatitis-vaccine-now-theyve-been-left-to-die
= new reply since forum marked as read
We use them to better our lives & then abandon them. 
Petition link: https://www.change.org/p/new-york-blood-center-don-t-abandon-chimpanzees-for-whom-you-promised-to-provide-lifetime-care
Go Fund Me link: http://www.gofundme.com/abandonedchimps
Better yet, get these chimps OUT of there and bring them to an accredited sanctuary where their care is guaranteed. They deserve better than what they are getting.