There is MUCH more than meets the eye, or shall I say, much more than the misrepresentation via the University's press release.  What you don't read is that they (literally) staged a commando-type raid on the Chimp Center, coordinated with the timing of a meeting I was called to with the Vice President for Research, Dr. Robert McGrath, in Bricker Hall, AND the simultaneous press release, extolling the University's virtues and the paradise to which the chimps were to be sent. 

 

In this "commando raid", a large group of people swooped down on the Center, scattered throughout the building, and changed ALL the locks, and took all keys away from my two full-time staff members.  They have also NOT PERMITTED my staff to ANSWER THE PHONE for the last 4 days.  At least one University police car & officer have been stationed there around the clock since Tuesday.

 

On Wednesday morning, the first time I attempted to go to the Center, I was ordered by a University police officer to "REMAIN IN YOUR CAR"...after which he "called for back-up", and about 3 minutes later, a second car arrived, and the patrolman's CAPTAIN ordered me off the property.

 

A nice way to treat a tenured, full professor who was made a AAAS fellow a couple years ago, eh?

It was a fully-planned, COVERT plan, designed specifically to occur while I was on campus, in Bricker Hall, during an appointment requested of me by the VP for Research, the Center was taken over (and is now under the "operational control") by University Lab Animal Resources, and the University would be the first to issue a press release, presumably with the thinking that, "the best defense is a good offense".

 

Unfortunately for them, despite what was likely months of planning, somebody didn't do their homework..

Primarily Primates is widely-known by many in the primate community and the animal welfare community as a substandard facility and financially unstable non-profit foundation.  Many of us in the primate community have been talking for the past five years about when the "other shoe will drop", and we are going to have to go into Primarily Primates and rescue the 70 chimps and some 950+ other primate species, as the whole operation implodes on itself.  Just for a cute example -- one of the individuals listed as being on their Board of Directors is rumored to have been DEAD for several years!!

 

The University has opened Pandora's Box, and there is no calling much of it back now.  

 

You can help by expressing your concerns and the contributions you feel we may have made to the educational experience of OSU students, local school children, etc. (you know the drill!).  I am encouraging people to call AND fax President Holbrook (Ph. 292-2424; fax 292-1231;  Sr. VP for Research Robert McGrath (Ph. 292-1582; fax 292-6602), and also the Office of the Board of Trustees: Fax 292-6359.  The faxes could easily be the same document, and would not need to be lengthy.  Short and succinct, and to the point?!!

 

With warmest regards for all your support,