An all-out war over the treatment of retired lab chimps has broken out between The Humane Society and the New York Blood Center — including charges that animal activists are stalking blood-bank trustees and their kids.
The battle of the huge nonprofits began last year when the blood center stopped paying for the care of chimpanzees stranded on six river islands without food or fresh water in the African nation of Liberia. The chimps had been used in the blood center’s hepatitis-vaccine research lab from 1974 until 2004, when the 66 apes were released.
The blood center paid workers to feed the chimpanzees and provide drinking water until it cut off funding in March 2015, saying it could “no longer divert funds from its important lifesaving mission here at home.” The blood center took in $320 million in revenue during the 2015 fiscal year.
The outraged Humane Society of the United States, which took over care of the chimps, recently fired off letters to nearly 90 blood-center donors urging them to stop giving.
Activists began holding demonstrations outside blood-center board members’ homes, including, most recently, Michael Hodin’s on the Upper West Side.
Angry blood-center bosses say the tactics have grown ugly.
“There have been attempts to enter trustees’ residences, and photos of trustees’ children and grandchildren have been posted online,” blood center Vice President Rob Purvis told The Post.
“While we remain willing to work with any legitimate animals-rights organization that seeks our help, we will not allow harassment, intimidation, lies and blackmail to distract us from our lifesaving mission,” he added.
The blood center insists it tried to find a long-term solution for the care of the chimps, which are owned by Liberia, but was ignored. The blood center offered about $1 million toward the lifetime care, said Kathleen Conlee of The Humane Society, which wants to build a permanent chimp sanctuary in Liberia. Capital costs for the project would be $3 million.
The Humane Society wanted the blood center to pitch in more, but talks broke down in August, Conlee said. “They created the problem, even taking chimps out of the wild,” she said.
The Humane Society spends $30,000 a month to feed the chimps, which now number 63. It set up a GoFundMe account, which has raised $320,000. The organization estimates it could cost as much as $54 million to care for the chimps during their life spans.
Some of the apes, who have names like Springroll, Yuletide and Brutus, are in their 30s or 40s. But eight were born in 2012 or later, the offspring of the original lab animals, and could live for more than 40 years longer.
The pressure on donors appears to be working. The MetLife Foundation, which has donated $1.9 million to the blood bank in the last decade, last month ceased contributing until the situation was resolved. Citigroup called the situation “not tolerable” and gave $50,000 to the care operation.
Conlee said the Humane Society wasn’t associated with the protests outside board members’ homes and “doesn’t condone harassment and intimidation.”