AAVS News

AAVS Celebrates 40 Years of Sanctuary Support

We are proud and happy to highlight an important milestone today: forty years ago, December 8, 1982, AAVS awarded its first sanctuary grant to a Texas nonprofit established to house a colony of monkeys who had been used in scientific research. What an important idea! It became possible to save animals’ lives by obtaining their release from laboratories and committing to their care. But implementation raised many questions; importantly, how could such efforts be sustained over time?

AAVS recognized that our advocacy to free animals from labs is complete only when it includes a commitment to the care of individual animals. Combining those related goals brings our mission full circle and connects us to the animals we love and respect.

Since that first grant, AAVS has awarded over $4 million to sanctuaries that care for animals formerly exploited for research and testing purposes.

Enormous thanks to the many AAVS members who have generously given to the Sanctuary Fund over the years!

Animals who are released from laboratories often require special care and help in adjusting to new environments; most have never before had access to fresh air or walked on grass. Sanctuary Fund grants provide funding for critical needs, including: food, shelter, veterinary care, environmental enrichment, and dedicated staff. And AAVS carefully screens all recipients to ensure that grants are awarded to reputable facilities managed by qualified professionals, who are essential, especially for primate care.

AAVS’s steadfast support of the sanctuary community is our compassion in action! Case in point: in 2015, when it became effectively impossible to use chimpanzees for research, but government funding was limited, an urgency to expand sanctuary capacity presented a challenge. AAVS started our BUILD IT! matching gift campaigns to raise funds and our members responded with such generosity! Hundreds of chimpanzees have been relocated from labs to beautiful new habitats, and are thriving. Sanctuaries are extremely grateful and we are grateful to them for taking on this important and challenging work of caring for animals who have been harmed by humans in some terrible ways. We are dedicated to carrying on this important mission.

Thank you for caring!