There is a whole lot going on in the world of chimps right now! Here are a few highlights for your further reading, education, and advocacy:
Scientific American just published an editorial calling for an end to biomedical experimentation on chimpanzees. The editors reference a study conducted in part here at CSNW demonstrating that chimpanzees experience signs of post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder, among other things, after being used as test subjects.
The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/HR.1513) , which CSNW formally supports, and introduced in the Senate by our very own Senator Maria Cantwell, would phase out the use of chimpanzees in invasive testing over three years. If you think that’s a good idea, be sure to lend your voice to the cause.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is re-considering the issue of the chimpanzee “split listing” under the Endangered Species Act. There’s a complex history here, but the short version is that there is a special rule in effect which completely excludes captive chimpanzees from any protection under the Endangered Species Act. The record behind that decision is questionable at best. Reclassifying captive chimpanzees as endangered would eliminate the special rule and go a long way toward adding protection for our captive chimpanzee friends. The USFWS has called for public comment on this – you can submit your comments here.
As we’ve written about before, a group of chimpanzees living in Alamogordo, NM were slated by the federal government to move from their facility (where no research was being conducted) back into research. Although 14 chimpanzees had already been moved, including Jody’s son Levi, the remainder of the group were given a temporary reprieve after public outcry and pending the outcome of further federal investigation.
At the request of the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine formed a committee charged with coming up with a report on whether chimpanzees are or will be necessary for biomedical research. The committee is accepting ongoing public comment here, and is expected to issue its report by the end of this year. The Washington Post did a write up after the most recent meeting of the committee. One of the most compelling pieces of information that came out of the last meeting? The FDA has a policy not to request data from chimpanzee studies, and it discourages submission of such data.
Finally (for now) a petition submitted to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (under the USDA) seeks an investigation into the decision that sent Levi and his 13 companions back into research.
There are so many balls in the air right now, it really does feel like the tides are turning. Please share your voice where you can!
Marcia Douthwaite says
Sarah, thanks for all the information. I have petitioned on almost all of the above through efforts by PCRM and other groups, but will petition the Animal & Plant……Inspection Service. It is hopeful that all of this is coming to the limelight now and we should be alarmed that this country is the only one besides Gabon who is still involved in such deeds.
Kat Morrell says
You have only to look into their eyes to KNOW that we should not be torturing them for biomedical research. Thanks for the list of places to speak out. I’m commented on some of them but now have a few more ways to voice my opinion and hopefully help influence our future treatment of the chimps.
Dawn says
My thanks too Sarah, for the summary. I’ve signed all the petitions you mentioned I think except for Animal and Plant Health Insp. Yes, I feel that the energy is coming together on this, and once the wave of public opinion (and hard science’s proofs that they are not ideal medical models) becomes great enough, there will be no turning back, and they will have to release them. But, we must plan ahead! Where will the 1,000 or so chimps live? Even that big sanctuary in LA couldn’t accomodate them all. And how safe is that place for chimps anyway? Doesn’t the NIH still have their hands in it? It is a government funded place at least in part, isn’t it? I think of the elders, like the one named Wenda. I worry she won’t make it, or perhaps most heart breaking still, that the transition to sanctuary may be too much for her & she will die soon after. I belileve that happened to an elder chimp who finally got to go to the one in LA (that is Chimp Haven, I just looked it up.)
But one thing at a time, I suppose. Maybe for the transition they could convert the places they are living until permanent sanctuary can be built, kind of like Carole Noon did at the former Coulston lab.
Sarah says
Thanks for pitching in, everyone!
Dawn – good questions. The chimpanzee sanctuary community has been busy planning for a few years now. Seven sanctuaries – Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Center for Great Apes, Save the Chimps, Chimp Haven, Chimps Inc, Primate Rescue Center, and the Fauna Foundation – founded a group called the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) about a year and a half ago. Among other things, we’ve been working together to formulate a plan for an eventual positive outcome on GAPCSA. We’ve stated as a group in public comments submitted on a few issues that given adequate funding, the sanctuary community is prepared to absorb ALL of the federal chimpanzees needing somewhere to go. GAPCSA has a funding mechanism written in. So we’re ready!