Good news for chimps that have helped mankind.
NIH Takes Another Step Toward Retirement Of Research Chimps
by GEOFF BRUMFIEL
June 26, 2013 3:08 PM
The National Institutes of Health says it will retire hundreds of chimpanzees that the agency had been using for research. Animal rights activists see the move as a big step towards ending the use of chimps in research, but it will be awhile before any of the research chimps find their way into retirement homes.
Right now, the NIH has some 360 chimps available to researchers. The vast majority of the animals are used in studies of things like genetics and behavior. But in recent years, the scientific community has begun to feel even these studies are unnecessary.
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine issued a report recommending that the vast majority of government chimps be retired. In January, an NIH working group agreed and issued specific recommendations on what to do with NIH's chimpanzees.
And earlier this month the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed designating all chimps, including lab chimps, as endangered. That would raise still another barrier to using them in research.
"Chimpanzees are very special animals," says Francis Collins, director of the NIH. "We believe they deserve special consideration as special creatures."
Collins says that the NIH will largely follow the plan issued by its internal working group. It will retire some 310 chimps to designated sanctuaries, leaving as many as 50 in labs and available for new research proposals.
The 50 or so will not necessarily stay in research forever. "We will revisit the decision about the need for those 50 in a small colony five years from now," Collins says.
The retired chimps will live out their lives in an environment similar to those in the wild. They will be in social groups of at least seven, and live inside enclosures where they can climb and forage for food. But the NIH won't follow a recommendation that each chimp be given 1,000 square feet of living space. Collins says: "We did not feel that there was adequate scientific evidence at present" to support that requirement. The cost involved with providing so much space was also an issue, he says.
more:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/06/26/195926114/nih-takes-another-step-toward-retirement-of-research-chimps
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