Non-human primates retired from research need specialized sanctuary environments that can address the complex psychological and social welfare needs created by their research histories.
Laboratory primate retirement is a welfare obligation that the research enterprise has historically struggled to fund and implement adequately. Primates that spent years in research settings — potentially including isolation, repeated procedures, and inadequate enrichment — arrive at retirement with complex welfare histories requiring patient rehabilitation. The transformation that quality sanctuaries can achieve in formerly isolated primates — social integration, reduction of stereotypies, development of positive behavioral repertoires — demonstrates both the depth of welfare harm that research settings can cause and the resilience of these animals when provided with appropriate care. Adequate retirement funding is a moral debt owed by the beneficiaries of primate research.