Charlotte Uhlenbroek

And so we are just versions of each other.

From the 1960s onwards, a series of medical, behavioral and social experiments took place chasing that dream.

But for the animals involved...

It turned into a nightmare.

Whatever similarities, chimps aren't almost human.

They're chimps.

The scientific basis of this work was flawed and worse, often meaningless and cruel.

By 2016 in the US, all invasive medical experimentation on chimps came to an end.

Other primates, like monkeys, were not so lucky, and experimentation continues.

But chimps live a long time, so the problem didn't simply evaporate.

As funding dried up from 2011 onwards, thousands of chimps had nowhere to go.

This is Chimp Haven in Louisiana, and it was set up back in 1973 to provide sanctuary to laboratory chimps.

Amy Fultz is one of the founders.

There are 300 chimps here and it costs about $29,000 to keep just one for a year.

That's nearly $9 million to provide food, medical care, enrichment and all their basic needs.

The US government provides around 75% of that, so Chimp Haven must raise the rest themselves.

Michelle Reininger is the colony director.

because it is a huge responsibility.

I don't know how much you've seen of wild chimps, but do you think that you have a fairly comparable setup?

My PhD research was on chimp pant hoot.