On
June 12, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) classified all
captive chimpanzees in the United States as endangered species for
legal protection. This means that almost all research on chimpanzees
in the country now has come to an end.
Wild chimpanzees were already listed as endangered in 1990, due
to habitat loss caused by increasing human populations. Still, animal
protection organizations submitted a petition to the FWS in order
to ensure humane treatment for captive chimps in science labs and
also to stop all commercial activities involving them.
During the public announcement, the FWS director Dan Ashe said,
“At the time we thought it was important to encourage breeding of
captive chimps to expand their numbers, but we expanded a culture
of treating these animals as a commodity for research, sale, import
and export, and entertainment.”
This new regulation is raising criticism of science groups, which
argue that research benefits both humans and chimpanzees. Meanwhile,
animal activists are welcoming - and thanking - the government’s
action to protect this species.