Lab chimps see the sun after 30 years
A group of laboratory chimps locked up for medical testing have seen the sun for the first time in 30 years.
Their release follows a 14-year bid to re-integrate the chimps who had been kept in isolation and injected with HIV and hepatitis, The Sun reports.
The pharmaceutical company behind the research was sold in 1997, beginning a long process to re-introduce the chimps to outdoor life.
Footage shows the primates 'embracing' and taking their first steps outside.
"They hugged as if saying, 'We're finally free'. And then they laughed," one witness was quoted as saying.
WATCH the chimps as they get a taste of their new freedom:
The primates were taken from their mothers shortly after their birth and taken to a research facility in Austria where they were kept in isolation.
"The chimps are incredibly happy. This is amazing, I have been waiting for this moment for so long," their Renate Foidl was quoted as saying.
The lab chimps are now at the Gut Aiderbichl Animal Sanctuary, near Salzburg in Austria.
