http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/science/chimps-england-judge.html 2016-09-17 02:19:03 Judge Clears 7 Chimps for Departure. They’re Off to England. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, which approved the export, but harshly criticized the agency. === For almost two years, the On Wednesday a federal judge cleared the way for the chimps to go. But in her decision, she harshly criticized the In 2015 the Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the But Judge Jackson said the plaintiffs’ arguments were nonetheless persuasive. She said she doubted that Congress “intended to authorize the agency to ‘sell’ its permits” by allowing prohibited activities as long as donations were made to benefit the species in question. Theodora Capaldo, president of the antivivisection society, said that while she was disappointed, she was also encouraged by the judge’s criticism of what Ms. Capaldo called Fish and Wildlife’s “ridiculous pay-to-play formula.” “We lost, but we won,” she said. The antivivisection society and other groups have tried to block the export of the Yerkes chimps because they fear that the English zoo, The Yerkes center’s application to send the chimps to England After several missteps, Yerkes arranged to donate $225,000 to the Judge Jackson challenged the agency’s argument that such donations were a legitimate part of the permit process because, she said, a donation could be arranged for any prohibited action despite the intent or value of the action itself. In response to a request for a comment on Judge Jackson’s criticism, the Fish and Wildlife Service said only that it “was satisfied with the outcome” of the lawsuit. The court ruling noted that Yerkes intended to move the chimpanzees before Nov. 1, when the permit expires. A Yerkes spokeswoman did not respond to a question about when the center would move its chimps, but wrote in an email that the center was “pleased with the judge’s decision.” Although Yerkes has the permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the antivivisection society sent a letter on Friday to Dan Ashe, the director of the service, asking that he immediately suspend the export permit based on the judge’s criticisms.