Former research chimps receive ongoing health care in retirement

In the quiet aftermath of scientific utility, a group of former laboratory chimpanzees now live under the sustained care of veterinarians and animal welfare specialists — a transition that speaks to a slow but meaningful shift in how research institutions understand their obligations to the animals they have used. Once instrumental in vaccine development, these primates are now the subjects of a different kind of attention: one that presumes their wellbeing matters in its own right. The emergence of structured retirement programs for research animals raises enduring questions about what respon