A victory? Maybe. John R. Platt writes about a long-in-place loophole that exempted captive-bred chimpanzees from the full protections of the Endangered Species Act; itmay finally be closed, Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), announced on June 11.
The federal wildlife agency has now proposed changing this longstanding policy. “If this rule is finalized as proposed, the ESA protections will be extended to captive chimpanzees in the U.S.,” Ashe said during a press call on Tuesday. This would not end private ownership of chimps—an estimated 2,000 chimpanzees are in private hands in this country, including those in zoos and medical research facilities—but it would add what Ashe characterized as “important and significant protections” for any captive apes.
Full article here.
Photograh: Alain Houle.
