Today we can be marginally less appalled by where our tax dollars are going: The US National Institutes of Health has extended their 1995 moratorium on chimpanzee breeding into a permanent ban, citing financial reasons. This doesn’t mean freedom for the some 500 government-owned chimps currently in labs, but the Humane Society and Project R&R are claiming victory.

Of course, this is the US government we’re talking about, so maybe they’ve just decided to privatize all the chimp breeding, or commission extra atrocities in foreign labs. And as Friends of Animals will insistently remind you, the government’s chimp retirement program is perhaps not all its cracked up to be. But still, it’s a small step in the right direction.

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