Controversial Plan Would Send Lab Chimps to Unaccredited Zoo
Critics of the transfer say the move will be detrimental to these chimps, won’t contribute to conservation, and could set a dangerous precedent for the Endangered Species Act.
A U.S. research center’s plan to ship seven lab chimpanzees to an unaccredited zoo in England is facing a legal challenge that tests the limits of the Endangered Species Act and raises questions about how research animals should be treated when they are retired.
At the center of the dispute are seven chimps named Lucas, Fritz, Agatha, Tara, Faye, Elvira, and Georgia. They have lived at Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where scientists conducted research on them in the fields of developmental and cognitive neuroscience. But last year, lab chimps were granted the full protections of the Endangered Species Act, which meant that unless the research they were a part of was going to help their
