Believe it or not, a real-life
Planet of the Apes does exist in an isolated area located deep in the jungles
of West Africa. It’s home to dozens of retired laboratory chimpanzees who were
at one point used for medical research. These chimps are practically heroes –
they’ve managed to survive disease, two civil wars and numerous medical tests
and experiments.
The apes are former residents
of The Liberian Institute of Biomedical Research (Vilab II) which played a
pivotal role in developing treatments for ailments such as Hepatitis during the
1970s. It was shut down in the mid-2000s due to growing pressure from animal
rights activists, and the apes were transferred to a remote Liberian island in
the middle of Farmington River, to live a life of quiet retirement.
The island – known to locals as
‘Monkey Island’ – is home to over 60 chimps who only allow familiar caretakers
to approach its shores. Their story was covered in a short documentary film
called Island of the Apes made
to promote the 2014 film Dawn
of the Planet of the Apes.
The film depicted American
journalist Kaj Larsen’s journey to Monkey Island, and his experiences there. To
reach the island, Larsen had to drive 40 miles from Monrovia to the village of
Marshall, and then negotiate with the locals to take him to the island on one of
their canoes. After striking a deal for $80, he also had to purchase fruit
offerings for the chimpanzees. Larsen was also told in no uncertain terms that
he must not step on the island if he values his life. “They will eat you raw!”
the villagers warned. “If you are a strange person, okay, when you go there,
they become aggressive,” said Jerry, a security guard at the island. “But the
only thing, the chimps, they are afraid of water. They don’t swim across. They
just walk at the water edge.”
As the boat pulled up to the
island, the chimps caught a glimpse of Larsen’s team and began to shout
and scream in agitation. Things seemed to get out of hand as a huge male
charged out at the boat, but it retreated as the water got deeper. “They were
super aggressive baring their teeth when we first showed up, but now that we’ve
got some food out, they’ve calmed down a lot,” Larsen said. “Even as I floated
just a few feet from the apes, it was hard to believe that this place actually
existed,” he added. But what he found even more astonishing was the story
behind how and why they got there.
He traveled to the Vilab
campus, where he learned that over 100 chimpanzees were injected with
infectious diseases in the hope of finding cures. Larsen interviewed Betsy
Brotman, former director of Vilab, in order to learn more about the facility.
She explained that Liberia was chosen for its large population of chimpanzees.
“A lot of people had pet chimpanzees,” she revealed. “And when they get past a
certain age of around five, they aren’t very good pets any more. And that’s how
we acquired our animals until we had enough breeding age animals.”
“They’re the only susceptible
species for Hepatitis,” Dr. Preston Marx, a virologist working at the
institute, explained. “Once a chimpanzee will be Hepatitis positive, then you
start needing naive animals (that have not been used in experiments). So they
started releasing them on to these islands. The reason they could do that is
because chimpanzees can’t swim.” There were six islands in all where the chimps
were released.
As trouble began to brew in
Liberia in 1989, which would result in two gory civil wars, the Vilab program
was at threat. In the midst of all the violence, they were struggling to
continue research and also protect the chimps that were released on to the
islands. Betsy decided to stay on, even though that meant putting her life at
risk, simply because the hundreds of animals needed to be fed. Eventually, she
found herself compelled to help the human victims of war, as well.
Both the lab and its employees
managed to remain unharmed until 1993, when the civil war finally made its way
to their doorstep. Terrorist forces stormed into Betsy’s home one day
and went after her husband Brian, assuming that he had worked for former Liberian
President Charles Taylor. Sadly, Brian was shot and killed.
Even after the horrific
incident, Betsy refused to leave the chimps and the people who needed her help.
She continued to work at the lab and made it through both civil wars. In the
end, it wasn’t the war but the change of public opinion towards animal-testing
that brought about the closure of the lab. Anti-testing videos were released
that depicted the cruel methods employed at other facilities, ultimately
turning the tide against the practice. In the late 1990s, scientists concluded
that most chimp testing was more cruel than effective. But the documentary does
state that the research Betsy and her team conducted at Vilab lead to
life-saving vaccinations for Hepatitis B as well as a screening method for
Hepatitis C – two diseases that combined, affect millions of people worldwide.
In 2005, Vilab caved, unable to
withstand the pressure from animal rights activists. “I think they were right,”
Betsy admitted. “Chimpanzees shouldn’t really be used in experiments. I really
do feel this way. If you’re going to do work in chimpanzees, you should set up
a system so that at the end of the research they have a place where they can be
retired to, so that they can live a nice chimp life to the best of whatever is
available.” And that is what Monkey Island is all about – Betsy, along with a
core of support staff, continue to feed and care for all the retired chimps. A
group of trained Liberian caretakers visit the island every other day to bring
food to the chimps, observe them and make sure all the animals are doing all
right.
The Real Planet of the Apes (Documentary)
Source: VICE Motherboard
Photo: AACC Liberia
Photo: Liberiana
Photo: Kingswan