Article 9-U.S. scientists to retire most research chimps
http://news.yahoo.com/us-govt-scientists-retire-most-research-chimps-121357316.html
This article is about U.S. government scientists agreeing that all but 50 of hundreds of chimpanzees kept for research should be retired from these labs and sent to a national sanctuary. The NIH Council of Councils Working Group approved the proposal which also called for cuts in grants to study in laboratories and no return to breeding them for research. Nine chimpanzees have already arrived at Chimp Haven outside of Shreveport, LA, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's New Iberia Research Center. Another 95 or so will arrive over the coming months. Animal-right activists are pleased by this action saying, "At last, our federal government understands: A chimpanzee should no more live in a laboratory than a human should live in a phone booth." The Humane Society will urge Congress to move money now spent on research contracts to Chimp Haven. The sanctuary gives the animals better care for less money than the labs are paid.
I chose this article because it relates to a topic my anthropology class has discussed before, which is the treatment of primates in labs or keeping them as pets. These chimps must be under a high amount of stress because compared to the wild this is nothing like where they originally come from and although keeping them in captivity is beneficial for us to learn more about them, there is a sacrifice which is their personal freedom. Perhaps, instead of capturing them and doing research experiments on these chimps we should be observing them in their natural habitat. Furthermore, it makes one wonder how much animal species we have captured and our impact we have after we think of releasing them into the wild because often times they forget the survival traits we've taken away from them, due to the amount of heavy research and isolation.
I chose this article because it relates to a topic my anthropology class has discussed before, which is the treatment of primates in labs or keeping them as pets. These chimps must be under a high amount of stress because compared to the wild this is nothing like where they originally come from and although keeping them in captivity is beneficial for us to learn more about them, there is a sacrifice which is their personal freedom. Perhaps, instead of capturing them and doing research experiments on these chimps we should be observing them in their natural habitat. Furthermore, it makes one wonder how much animal species we have captured and our impact we have after we think of releasing them into the wild because often times they forget the survival traits we've taken away from them, due to the amount of heavy research and isolation.