302 | The Great Ape Project A silverback mountain gorilla seen in the Virunga National Park, near the Ugandan border in eastern Congo (AP Photo / Jerome Delay) and organizations are working to end such research; among these in particular the efforts by the New England AntiVivisection Society through its Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in US laboratories campaign is notable (www.releasechimps.org) The special attention to great apes over the last fifteen years seems to have had an impact on the zoo community as well Whereas many zoos favor the killing of surplus animals, an exception is to be made for great apes In 2001, the book Great Apes & Humans: The Ethics of Coexistence, was published to respond to the Great Ape Project In this book, Michael Hutchins and colleagues of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association comment: As great ape zoo populations mature, the question arises of what to with older, postreproductive individuals Animal rights proponents argue that zoos have a responsibility to care for captivebred animals from “the cradle to the grave.” In the case of great apes, we agree Despite arguments to the contrary ( .) and the fact that it is legal, euthanasia of healthy great apes is not generally accepted in the professional zoo community as an option for controlling populations (Hutchins et al., 2001, p 352) One is left wondering what the general zoo policy would have been without the