The largest and most high-profile chimpanzee research centre in the United States has acknowledged to Nature that 137 infant chimpanzees have been born to federally owned animals under its care since 2000, despite a government moratorium on such births. The centre says that it abided by the policy because the infant chimps are not supported by federal funds. But critics claim that any breeding of government chimps violates the spirit of the ban, which they consider was partly a response to ethical concerns about research on chimps. The United States and Gabon are the only countries whose governments are known to allow invasive chimpanzee research.
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