All chimpanzees including those living in captivity will now be protected under the Endangered Species Act. (Photo : The Jane Goodall Institute)
To date, all chimpanzees are now under the protection of the Endangered Species Act where this new ruling will protect chimps from capture or selling.
This new ruling also means that chimps are now illegal for import or export without any proper permits, meaning permits will only be fully authorized only for scientific purposes or research only or moving the primates from another area for conservation efforts.
This new legal protection for the primates was announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where it will be published on June 16. This protection also includes captive chimps as well where federal guidelines involve those chimps living in artificial habitats.
This new law will firmly place further restrictions for chimpanzees that are used for commercial purposes where humane treatment will now be strictly applied by professional caretakers.
According to said Tara Easter of the Center for Biological Diversity, this is great news for chimpanzees to be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act since this is exactly what they need for these imperiled, intelligent animals to survive.
It is also the morally right thing to do for captive chimps to become protected and even so for the species in the wild. However, chimpanzees are now facing threatening factors that can lead to challenges in their survival as a species.
These threats include deforestation resulting in habitat loss and humans capturing these primates for sale as pets. Chimps are often caught between living in the wild and human habitats where they are usually taken when they are young as pets, making them relatively easy to raise.
However, these creature become more challenging to take care of when they grow older where they often attack their caretakers during retaliation. More so, owners who want to give up their domesticated chimp adult pets to the zoo or reserve, results in these pets lacking the skills to live with others of their own kind, alienating them in the process.
Wild chimps on the other hand are already classified as endangered since 1990. The Endangered Species Act for the chimpanzees will go in effect beginning September 2015 where wild chimps are located in 22 nations in Africa and are considered to be the closest animal relative of humans.
