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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020629/ap_wo_en_po/spain_chimp_sanctuary_3

AP World Politics
Chimps rescued from squalor inaugurate Spain's first primate rescue center
Sat Jun 29, 2:35 PM ET

By SARAH ANDREWS, Associated Press Writer

RIUDELLOTS DE LA SELVA, Spain - After spending eight years in tiny, 
squalid cages and almost total darkness, seven chimpanzees 
inaugurated Spain's first primate rescue center on Saturday.

Before being rescued and put in transitional cages last August, the 
chimps lived in a derelict truck owned by circus trainer Rafael Rocas 
and were only taken out to appear in advertisements and commercials.

One chimp had experience riding motorbikes and others starred in ads 
for McDonald's, Estrella beer and Spain's largest communications 
company, Telefonica. But their lives were anything but glamorous.

"The conditions they lived in were terrible," said Olga Feliu, the 
founder of the Mona Foundation, the non-profit organization running 
the center with support from the World Society for the Protection of 
Animals, an international charity organization.

"It was impossible to get inside the truck to clean it, and the cages 
were filled with rotting food and excrement. Some of them had 
problems walking because they were kept in such small spaces for so 
long," she said.

Now the chimps live in the newly completed sanctuary with its tall 
grass, a pond, ropes and wooden structures for climbing.

The chimps can never be returned to the wild, but their new home 
allows them a feel of their habitat.

The sanctuary also includes indoor sleeping quarters, where the 
chimps are kept at night for their own protection, smaller cages 
where they can be observed and an educational center where visitors 
can learn about the chimps and the Mona Foundation's efforts to 
rescue primates in Spain.

Spain currently has minimal animal welfare laws.

The foundation is working to rescue at least 20 other chimps living 
in poor conditions in Spain and says there are countless others who 
need help as well.

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