GAP-USA Launches Census 2001 for Nonhuman Great Apes,
Says "Make injustices visible"
Portland, OR -- The United States branch of The Great
Ape Project (GAP), a group working to raise the legal and moral status
of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos, announced today a
census of nonhuman great apes in the United States. The Great Ape
Project's "Census 2001" campaign -- modeled on the US government's
Census 2000 -- highlights the fact that all great apes, human and
nonhuman alike, share qualities including intelligence, complex social
systems, and the ability to suffer. For this reason, all should be
counted as individuals and recognized through a census.
Paul Waldau, GAP's Executive Director, states, "Nonhuman
great apes should be counted as individuals, just as humans are. They
now suffer greatly -- chained in backyards, beaten, sold on the internet
-- and we must make these injustices visible. GAP's Census 2001 goes one
step beyond the US government's Census 2000, and will call attention to
the fact that there remain many complex individuals who still need to be
counted--our fellow great apes."
GAP - USA's census will be carried out mainly by
volunteers, or enumerators, who will report information about individual
nonhuman great apes across the United States in zoos, circuses,
laboratories, sanctuaries, and under private ownership. Enumerators can
submit reports directly to GAP by filling out census forms at the Great
Ape Project website at
http://www.greatapeproject.org/census.html
Sarah Whitman, Campaign Director for GAP-USA's Census 2001 says, "With
our Census 2001, GAP will pick up where the US Census Bureau left off by
recognizing the nonhuman great apes. Census 2001 is one step up from
Census 2000."
The Great Ape Project is an international organization
working to raise the legal and moral status of nonhuman great apes. GAP
has chapters across the globe, and supporters include famed
primatologist Jane Goodall. To explore the Great Ape Project website,
please see: http://www.greatapeproject.org .
Contact:
Paul Waldau, [email protected], 508.529.4268 or
Sarah Whitman, [email protected], 203.263.3038
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