The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Friday that all chimpanzees, both wild and captive, will be officially designated as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) this upcoming Tuesday.
The changes which come as a result of the final rule — which actually goes into effect following a 90-day grace period on September 14, 2015 — moves captive chimps up from threatened status to match that of wild chimps, which are and have been deemed endangered. It also removes them from a special rule for primates which previously allowed some activities otherwise prohibited under the ESA.
As a result of the final rule, which will be published in the Federal Register on June 16, 2015, certain activities involving chimpanzees will be prohibited without a permit, however, the Service writes that it intends to “work closely with the biomedical research community to permit biomedical research that must use chimpanzees as research subjects.”
The Service indicates that permits for such activities will only be issued for “scientific purposes that benefit the species in the wild, or to enhance the propagation or survival of chimpanzees, including habitat restoration and research on chimpanzees in the wild that contributes to improved management and recovery.”
As for biomedical research employing chimps as guinea pigs, the Service wrote in its news release that it “will work closely with the biomedical research community to permit biomedical research that must use chimpanzees as research subjects.”
According to Dan Ashe, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s director, these new changes will create barriers for biomedical research employing captive chimps, of which there are presently 730 in the custody of biomedical laboratories.
The Washington Post reports that there were once millions of wild chimps roamed the planet, but now, there are less than 300,000, according to IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Erika Fleury of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, a group of eight primate sanctuaries across the U.S. and Canada which cares for roughly 600 chimps and monkeys, was quoted by The New York Times as having said that this recently announced “rule change will help put an end to the exploitation of chimpanzees and we are happy about that,” but she cautioned that if these changes result in more chimps retiring to sanctuaries, the retirees should be accompanied by additional funding to sanctuaries.
This rule change will help put an end to the exploitation of chimpanzees and we are happy about that (…) It’s years in the making and we’re very happy to see this come to fruition.
In other primate coverage here at Immortal News, a study found that female chimps make weapons for hunting after a troop of chimps was sighted wielding spears which they used to stab their prey.
