The Possibility Of Full Protection For Chimpanzees Under The Endangered Species Act

[Judi Lynn]

The Possibility Of Full Protection For Chimpanzees Under The Endangered Species Act

11 Tuesday June 2013

Posted by Kambiz Kamrani in Blog, Chimpanzee, Ecology, Zoology

For as long as I’ve been alive, wild chimpanzees have been “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Captive-born chimps, however, have only been classified under the lesser class of “threatened.”



Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), announced today that the loophole that exempted captive-bred chimpanzees from the full protections of the ESA may finally be closed. It’ll take some work, but it is a step in the right direction.

The distinction was put in place in 1990 for the purpose of those who registered with the FWS to legally import, export, re-import, sell and ‘take’ (including euthanize) their captive-bred apes as long as those activities ultimately showed an overall enhanced survival of the species. Those activities include scientific research, exhibition (a.k.a. show-biz apes) or holding and maintenance of ‘surplus’ apes. Ashe clarified that then,

““We wanted to encourage breeding of chimps at that time, believing at that time that providing additional animals in captive populations would reduce the incentive to remove animals from the wild.””

More:
http://primatology.net/2013/06/11/the-possibility-of-full-protection-for-chimpanzees-under-the-endangered-species-act/

[hunter]

1. I think they should be reclassified as some kind of people...

... and assigned legal guardians; someone who would determine what's best for an individual chimpanzee.

I feel the same about other apes and cetaceans held in captivity.