The National Institutes of Health has announced that it will end its support for invasive research on chimpanzees and retire the 50 chimps that it had set aside for future biomedical research.

美国国家卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)日前宣布不再支持对黑猩猩进行侵入式研究，而它为未来生物医学研究保留的50只黑猩猩也将退役。

The decision, announced on Wednesday, brings to a close years of controversy about federally funded primate experimentation, and follows a 2013 decision by the N.I.H. to retire all but 50 of its chimpanzees to animal sanctuaries.

本周三宣布的这一决定，给多年来关于联邦政府资助的灵长类动物实验的争论画上了句号。国家卫生研究院2013年曾决定，除50只黑猩猩之外，其他都放归动物保护区。

After two and a half years, no proposal requesting use of the remaining chimpanzees has moved forward, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the N.I.H., in a news briefing on Wednesday with reporters.

两年半之后，没有任何要求使用剩余黑猩猩的计划在向前推进，该院院长弗朗西斯·S·柯林斯(Francis S. Collins)在本周三的新闻发布会上对记者说。

“We find no evidence that there is a need to continue to do research of an invasive sort on chimpanzees, not now and not going into the future,” Dr. Collins said.

“我们没有看到任何证据表明有必要继续对黑猩猩做侵入式研究，无论现在还是未来，”柯林斯博士说。

He cited two events that had led to the decision. The first was an extensive independent assessment published in 2011 that investigated the usefulness of chimpanzees for biomedical research. That report led the agency to retire a sizable portion of its chimpanzees in 2013 and set stricter requirements for research with the primates.

他表示，有两件事导致他们做出这个决定。一是在2011年发表了一篇独立评估，对黑猩猩在生物医学研究中的用处进行了广泛调查。因此在2013年，该机构决定让其拥有的相当大一部分黑猩猩退役，并对灵长类动物研究设置了更严格的要求。

The second was the designation of all chimps as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in June. The regulations set by the designation require researchers to apply for permits to perform invasive research with chimps.

二是今年6月，《濒危物种保护法》(Endangered Species Act)将所有黑猩猩列为濒危物种。根据法规要求，研究人员对黑猩猩进行侵入式研究之前必须申请许可。

“When you put those things together, it seems inescapable,” Dr. Collins said. “We have moved on beyond the time when research on chimpanzees was considered essential.”

“综合起来看，这似乎是不可避免的，”柯林斯说。“我们向前推进，已经过了认为有必要对黑猩猩进行研究的时期。”

Animal rights activists who have fought for the release of chimpanzees from federal institutions for years welcomed the news as a victory.

为解放联邦机构的黑猩猩奋战多年的动物权利活动人士对这一消息表示欢迎，认为这是一种胜利。

“When in 2013 they announced they would release the majority of chimps, some people focused on the 50 that would be left behind,” said Kathleen Conlee, the vice president of animal research at the Humane Society of the United States. “And I said, ‘Don’t worry, someday we will get them protected.’ And today we did.”

“当他们在2013年宣布他们会释放大部分黑猩猩时，一些人的关注点是剩下的50只黑猩猩，”美国人道协会(Humane Society of the United States)动物研究部门的副主管凯瑟琳·康利(Kathleen Conlee)表示。“我说过，‘不要担心，我们有一天会让它们获得保护。’我们今天做到了。”

Stephen Ross, the director of the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes and a member of the group that recommended that the N.I.H. retain 50 chimpanzees, said in an email that he applauded the decision to retire all of the federally owned chimps.

莱斯特·E·费舍尔猿类研究及保护中心( Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes )负责人斯蒂芬·罗斯(Stephen Ross)在邮件中表示，他欢迎允许联邦机构拥有的所有黑猩猩退役的决定。罗斯所在的组织曾建议国家卫生研究院保留50只黑猩猩。

“Given the lack of interest in conducting medical research with chimpanzees, it was clear that the need for this reserve colony did not justify their continued housing in laboratory environments,” he wrote.

“鉴于大家没有兴趣利用黑猩猩做医学研究，尽管需要保留这一群体，但这明显无法成为让它们继续留在实验室的理由。”

To date, the N.I.H. has retired 183 of its chimpanzees to a federally funded sanctuary in Louisiana called Chimp Haven. The agency said it planned to send an additional 308 chimpanzees, including the last 50 chimps, to the sanctuary.

迄今为止，国家卫生研究院已让183只黑猩猩退役，并将其送至路易斯安那州一个名叫黑猩猩乐园(Chimp Haven)的保护区。该保护区由联邦政府资助。国家卫生研究院称，打算再送308只黑猩猩去该保护区，包括最后的50只。

The entire process could take several years, Dr. Collins said, during which the chimps will be kept in three different federal facilities, including the Southwest National Primate Research Center, the Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research and the Alamogordo Primate Facility.

柯林斯表示，整个过程可能要用几年时间。在这期间，黑猩猩将被安置在三个不同的联邦机构，包括西南国家灵长类动物研究中心(Southwest National Primate Research Center)、米哈莱·E·基林比较医学研究中心(Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research)和阿拉莫戈多灵长类动物中心(Alamogordo Primate Facility)。

Under the CHIMP Act of 2000, all federally owned chimps must retire at Chimp Haven. The N.I.H. will give priority in admittance to 20 chimpanzees in Southwest National Primate Research Center, also known as the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, in San Antonio, because those chimps are closest to the sanctuary. The N.I.H. plans to move chimps together based on their family and social groups, taking into consideration their age and health.

按照2000年的《黑猩猩健康改善、饲养和保护法案》(Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act，简称CHIMP Act)的规定，联邦政府拥有的所有黑猩猩，在退役后必须安置在黑猩猩乐园。国家卫生研究院将优先把20只黑猩猩，送往位于圣安东尼奥的西南国家灵长类动物研究中心，又名德克萨斯州生物医学研究所(Texas Biomedical Research Institute)，因为那些黑猩猩离该保护区最近。国家卫生研究院计划按照家庭和社群，同时考虑年龄和健康因素，把黑猩猩聚集在一起。

“We absolutely look forward to welcoming these 50 chimps to our sanctuaries to join with their lab chimp friends,” said Erika Fleury, program manager of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, which runs Chimp Haven and seven other primate sanctuaries in the United States and Canada that together care for more than 270 chimpanzees.

“我们期待着迎接这50只黑猩猩来我们的保护区，加入到它们在实验室的黑猩猩朋友的行列，”北美灵长类动物庇护地联盟(North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance)的项目经理埃丽卡·弗勒里(Erika Fleury)说。该机构负责着黑猩猩乐园，及美国和加拿大另外七所灵长类动物保护区的运营。这些保护区总共照顾着270多只黑猩猩。

Cathy Willis Spraetz, the president and chief executive of Chimp Haven, said in an email that the sanctuary had space to take 25 chimps immediately and planned to make space for 25 more in early 2016.

黑猩猩乐园的园长兼首席执行官凯茜·威利斯·斯普雷茨(Cathy Willis Spraetz)在电子邮件中表示，该保护区有立即接收25只黑猩猩的空间，还打算为2016年初再接收25只安排地方。

Ms. Spraetz also said Chimp Haven would start a campaign to build four more forested enclosures, several acres in size, to house 100 more chimpanzees.

斯普雷茨还表示，黑猩猩乐园将开启一场行动，再修建四个有草木覆盖的活动场地，每个几英亩大，以便再安置100只黑猩猩。

“Now it's time,” she said, “to give them their freedom where they have self-determination and can decide how they will spend their days.”

“现在是时候给它们自己决定的自由，让它们决定自己怎么打发时间了，”斯普雷茨说。