Coulston Rejected but the Death Toll Rises

“Coulston Foundation has NO PLANS to close its doors….Coulston Foundation is actively pursuing the contract for the maintenance of the National Institutes of Health-owned chimpanzees and INTENDS TO WIN THE RFP [Request for Proposal].”

—October 1, 2000 internal memo from The Coulston Foundation President Ron Couch to employees

When the National Institutes of Health (NIH) took title to 288 chimpanzees owned by The Coulston Foundation (TCF) last May, it appeared that Frederick Coulston’s chimpanzee empire was ready to collapse. But remarkably, when NIH issued a request for proposals to care for those same 288 chimpanzees, guess who submitted a bid… The Coulston Foundation. Although NIH refuses to admit that there are serious, persistent animal welfare problems at TCF, clearer heads prevailed and TCF’s bid was rejected in early October. According to Science magazine, October 13, 2000, “an outside review committee had found [TCF’s] proposal unacceptable.”

But while NIH requested and considered bids to care for these chimpanzees, they inexplicably were left at TCF’s facility and in TCF’s care. Now, only 287 chimpanzees remain. On September 11, 2000, In Defense of Animals (IDA) reported that Ray, a ten-year old chimpanzee and one of the 288 whose title was transferred to NIH, died “after allegedly being left sick for days without receiving veterinary care.” 

Had NIH awarded TCF the contract to care for these 288 287 infected chimpanzees, it would have been a travesty for these sentient creatures and would have further undermined public confidence in the decision-making abilities of the US government. Eric Kleiman, IDA’s Research Director, suggests, “This rejection should be the death-knell for this abysmal lab." 

In fact, TCF has been on the verge of financial ruin for years and would be bankrupt if not for infusions of personal funds from CEO Frederick Coulston and substantial taxpayer-funded federal handouts by NIH that continue to prop up the lab. A financial assessment by NIH’s National Center for Research Resources as recently as April 1999 reveals the dire fiscal straits at TCF. According to the review, TCF at that time had $800,000 in unpaid bills and vendors were not renewing contracts with the company. The report continued to assert that TCF “has no realistic expectation of an influx of operating capital” and that based on the lack of cash flow “it appears unlikely that it can continue operating for much more than two or three months longer." 

Notwithstanding NIH’s own internal assessments of TCF and the fact that TCF management has routinely misled NIH, The Coulston Foundation continues to receive supplemental awards from NIH to prevent it from crumbling completely. According to NIH’s list of “Grants and Awards for Fiscal Year 2000,” TCF President Couch is listed as receiving two awards totaling $ 1,214,614 for the year. It’s hard to imagine a private business failing when millions of dollars from American taxpayers are floating the facility year after year. But NIH turns a blind eye to the law that requires it to suspend or revoke funding for any facility—such as TCF—that has failed to correct multiple animal welfare deficiencies despite being given far more than reasonable time to comply. If NIH is going to pay for the long-term care of these chimpanzees, it should allow TCF to go belly up and transfer both title to the more than 600 chimpanzees there (including the remaining 287 to which NIH already took title) and the federal funds used to support them to an appropriate animal sanctuary where they will receive needed veterinary treatment and the compassionate care they deserve.