Chimpanzees in the United States need to be protected.

Extend Endangered Species Protections to Captive Chimpanzees 

in the United States
By Elaine Murphy on Thu, 11/10/2011

Actress Kristin Bauer, has drafted a petition on Change.org advocating for the rights of endangered and captive chimpanzees in the United States. With support of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the petition letter is addressed to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service encouraging them to protect captive chimpanzees. 

 

There are 1,300 chimpanzees living in U.S. research laboratories, and these animals are used multiple times for experiments, meaning that some chimpanzees can spend nearly their entire lives in a lab and endure decades of experimentation.

Chimpanzees are used for their genetic similarity to humans, and experiments performed on them have included those relating to hepatitis and HIV vaccines. Research chimpanzees are bought from zoos and circuses or caught from the wild.

On a global scale, conservation efforts for these endangered animals have included sanctuaries and rehabilitation programs for orphans, initiatives to help reintroduce chimpanzees to the wild, and restrictions on the import and export of chimpanzees. By not extending endangered species protections to captive chimpanzees in the United States, the FWS is taking a step backward from international efforts to restore the global chimpanzee population, which some estimate could be extinct in as little as ten years from now.

 

Source:

Extend Endangered Species Protections to Captive Chimpanzees in the United States | GreenAnswers:
Photo credit: flickr.com/photos/davelau/767256229
 

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