Monkey Island: Home of the Liberian lab chimps

In 1974, researchers from the US nonprofit blood bank, the New York Blood Center (NYBC), opened an experimental laboratory on the west coast of Liberia. Working with the Liberia Biomedical Research Institute, they trapped wild chimpanzees and used them to conduct research and drug trials.

The animals were kept outside the capital, Monrovia, confined in cages like these at the Vilab II research facility. Researchers infected them with various diseases, such as hepatitis B and river blindness, an eye sickness caused by a parasite, so they could study the effectiveness of different treatments.

The total population was 85 chimpanzees. However, work at the research laboratory was disrupted during the two Liberian civil wars in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, the facility was closed for good and the apes were gradually relocated to six uninhabited islands in the Farmington River estuary. Today, animal rights activists go out regularly by boat to ensure the animals are fed.

Staff from the Humane Society regularly bring buckets of fruit and drinkable water — both are scarce on the islands. Although it pledged to pay for the chimps' care for the rest of their lives, the NYBC cut this funding in 2015. After an outcry, it gave another $6 million (€5.3 million) in 2017 — not nearly enough, said the Humane Society. On average, chimps can live some 30 to 40 years.

The colony currently numbers around 65 apes, including babies. They often react aggressively when people approach their island. Strangers to the animals may be splashed with water or screamed at. The alpha chimps keep a close eye on everything. Releasing the apes elsewhere would be too risky, especially for other animals, because they still carry infectious diseases.

As chimpanzees are not naturally able to swim, they never venture very far into the water. The volunteers bringing the food wear protective clothing and maintain a safe distance. Only a few of the animal welfare workers have established a close bond with the apes over the years. Once the chimps have gotten hold of their fruit, things are a bit more relaxed.

The research conducted by NYBC on the chimpanzees led to successes: It contributed to the development of a hepatitis B vaccine, and a diagnostic procedure for hepatitis C. But in an interview in 2014, Betsy Brotman, the researcher who was in charge of the lab until 2005, said: "The animal rights activists were right. Chimpanzees really shouldn’t be used in experiments. I really do feel this way."