Goal of Broader Protection for Chimpanzees Emerges From Changing Perspectives

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/science/goal-of-broader-protection-for-chimpanzees-emerges-from-changing-perspectives.html?ref=science&_r=0


Wild chimpanzees have been listed as endangered since 1990, but a new proposal, announced Tuesday, covers all chimps.

More than 50 years ago, Jane Goodall, then a young researcher at what would become the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, began introducing the public to the “fantastic beings” she had studied and lived with. In her book “In the Shadow of Man” and in later works, she showed the world complex animals with intricate social lives and helped change the way the world looked at the great apes.

On Tuesday, Dr. Goodall, 79, now a longtime champion of chimpanzee conservation, participated in what may turn out to be another milestone. She joined the director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Daniel M. Ashe, in announcing a proposal to add chimpanzees in captivity to the endangered species list.

Wild chimpanzees have been listed as endangered since 1990, but the new proposal, which is open to public comment for 60 days, covers all chimps, including nearly 2,000 captive in the United States. The listing, if adopted, could block most experimentation on them, stop interstate trade in the animals and perhaps discourage use of chimpanzees in entertainment.

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposal came in response to a petition filed in 2010 by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Humane Society of the United States, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and other groups. It would require permits for interstate commerce involving any chimpanzees, or for what the law calls “taking,” which could be anything from harassment to major harm to something as simple as obtaining a blood sample. And those permits, Mr. Ashe said, would be granted only if the action could be shown to benefit the survival of the species.