<i>Glee</i> Star Champions Chimps

"Lobbying is hard. My feet hurt", bemoaned television actress Charlotte Ross who wore skyscraper platform heels to pound the Capitol Hill pavement on behalf of chimpanzees this week.
The Glee star is joining forces with The Humane Society of the United States to promote the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, a bipartisan bill to free chimpanzees from what she describes as "horrific" and "archaic" government sponsored medical research.

Ross is among the celebrities who posed for risque promotional posters for the animal welfare group, PETA, but she says her fondness for chimpanzees is particularly personal.

At a press luncheon at the City Tavern Club, Ross explained she felt an affinity with the chimpanzee since childhood.

She recalled that when she first looked into the eyes of the chimpanzee, it was like "looking into a mirror".

According to the Humane Society, there are 1,000 chimpanzees living in several laboratories in the Unites States, despite most of these animals not being utilized for science.

Ross argued that returning the chimpanzees to sanctuaries is not only ethical, as confinement causes great stress and trauma to the highly social chimpanzee, but saves the tax payer millions.
The Humane Society estimates that keeping chimpanzees in labs costs the government close to 30 million a year.