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Calif. moves last 2 chimps from closed sanctuary

By Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times
Published: February 3, 2023, 5:55am

With the move of its last two chimps, a former Los Angeles County animal sanctuary that was abruptly closed in 2019 is now empty of its animal charges, state officials have said.

There were still 500 animals living at the Wildlife Waystation in Angeles National Forest when the facility closed because of financial issues in 2019. The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife then became responsible for the animals and slowly began the process of moving the many different species into functioning sanctuaries.

After eight chimpanzees were transferred last month to Chimp Haven, a sanctuary in Louisiana, only two animals remained at the Wildlife Waystation, according to officials.

“It was actually relatively easy to find homes for lions, tigers, bears, jaguars, all sorts of primates, birds and reptiles,” CDFW Regional Manager Ed Pert said in a statement. “Chimpanzees are a difficult species to rehome. After it became illegal to do medical research on chimpanzees in 2015, U.S research facilities have been closing down or rehoming them. There hasn’t been enough space at good facilities to take them all in.”

Chimp Haven also had space for the last two chimpanzees, who were sent to Louisiana to live among old friends in January, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department.

The 42 chimps living at the Wildlife Waystation had mostly come from a biomedical lab in New York that shut down in the 1990s, according to the agency.

Legal problems and natural disasters helped lead the once-bustling animal sanctuary in Sylmar, Calif., to its demise in 2019. Flooding and a 2017 fire were the last straws, causing severe damage to the facility that the sanctuary could not afford to repair.

When the Wildlife Waystation surrendered its permits in 2019, the Department of Fish and Wildlife took over the sanctuary. The department became responsible for rehousing hundreds of animals, including alligators, wolves, tigers and the 42 chimpanzees living on the shuttered premises.

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