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doi:10.1126/science.290.5490.247b

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ScienceScope

The fate of 288 chimpanzees used for research remains uncertain after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rejected a proposal from their current caretakers to continue housing them.

The NIH assumed ownership of the chimpanzees in May after a settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's office of animal welfare required the Coulston Foundation of Alamogordo, New Mexico, to give up ownership of the animals (Science, 12 May, p. 943). NIH then announced a competition for their care, to which Coulston applied. But on 5 October NIH sent a letter to Coulston, saying that an outside review committee had found its proposal unacceptable. The decision leaves Coulston temporarily in charge of the animals.

The latest decision is "an extension of NIH's mismanagement and irresponsibility," says Suzanne Roy, program officer of In Defense of Animals (IDA), a California-based animal-rights group. "We're working as fast as we can" to recruit another caretaker for the animals, counters John Stranberg, NIH's director of comparative medicine.