Suffering in the name of science

Suffering in the name of scienceRachel Weiss, an animal care technician at Yerkes, was a caregiver for Jerom – the only chimpanzee ever to die of an AIDS-like illness. She was deeply concerned by the day-to-day suffering of Jerom as she watched his physical and emotional deterioration over many months. She describes his ordeal:
“As is often the case with experiments on live animals, Jerom suffered for much of his illness without being given medical treatment to relieve his pain or misery, because doing so would have interfered with the course of the experiment.”

After his death, Rachel Weiss left her job at Yerkes to become an outspoken advocate against the use of chimpanzees in research. Each year on the anniversary of Jerom’s death, Rachel calls attention to his and other chimpanzees’ plight by issuing a statement in memory of Jerom. These words are from her memorial to him in 2000:
“I was with Jerom for his last six months. I was his caretaker and his nurse, and watched his decline just as I have watched human friends die of AIDS. My life has been profoundly affected by my work with Jerom and the other chimps he lived with. I write for Jerom because I was his witness. I write about Jerom because for me he has become a symbol of something greater, and while I harbor private memories and a profound sadness for the son/brother/patient I lost, I am filled with a sense of disgust which grows and will not be silent every time I hear of the latest cruelties committed in the name of humanity and in the name of science.”
“Instead of a proud figure, he was lean and gaunt, his hair dull, his skin pale, his eyes sunken from wasting and bright with fear and fever. He suffered in almost every way a caged chimpanzee can suffer, and then he died.”