Comment on FR Doc # 2011-22372

I strongly urge you to adopt the proposed rule to classify all chimps as endangered. The separate classifications of chimps has led to individuals using and abusing chimps in ways that serve no purpose to our country, people or health. Chimps in entertainment, as private pets and medicinal lab rats suffer terrible lives, often living in solitary confinement or abandoned once they are too large to "work" for people any longer. Given the highly endangered status of chimps in the wild, these uses seem frivolous and unnecessary, not to mention cruel to the animals involved. As an educator who teaches about animals, including chimps and other great apes, I would also like to point out that the separate classifications that have allowed chimps to be used in entertainment and kept as pets has led to confusion among the public about the status of chimps in the wild- because they are so readily visible, people frequently report in surveys that they do not think chimps are endangered or in trouble.This is a misapprehension that we can't afford to continue perpetuating. The use of chimps in medicinal research is also unnecessary and cruel, not to mention expensive to maintain and inefficient. Again, please make the change to classify all chimps as endangered, and end the separate classification for captive chimps that has led to these abuses. Thank you!