LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Not many people know it, but there have been hundreds of chimpanzees living in New Mexico for over 30 years, however sooner than later, they will be headed to the sunshine state.

“We custom-built this travel trailer specifically for the chimps to bring them to Florida,” said Jen Feuerstein of Save The Chimps.

Florida is where a 100 plus acre sanctuary is located, a much better climate for the chimps and they'll no longer having to be locked up.

“They are in sanctuary right now, but it is our dream for them to have the opportunity to live on grass and wide open spaces,” said Feuerstein.

Even though the facility in Alamogordo is a temporary home, for nearly 30 years it served as a research and experiment lab. The test dummies were the chimps and now it's even left some of the animals mentally scared.

“There is not much of a difference between this and a human jail,” said Feuerstein. “It was really distressing to see the chimps living in this kind of environment, some of them were thin, depressed.”

Testing finally came to stop in 2002 when the organization Save The Chimps took over the facility and the 266 primates that came with it.

“Like the back of the cage, the solid wall, actually squeezes forward so the chimps could be pressed up against the cage and they could inject them with sedatives or any sort of test material,” said Feuerstein.

Tuesday, 10 more chimps will leave Alamogordo on the trailer, with each chimp even getting a window seat.

“A semi goes by really fast and they're like, ‘Woah, what was that?’” said Feuerstein.

After 40 hours, some of the chimps will be free, bringing the Alamogordo total for chimps from over 200 to 89, with hope to finally close shop in the southwest sometime in 2011.