Roger Fouts

Roger S. Fouts (born June 8, 1943) is a retired American primate researcher. He was co-founder and co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) in Washington, and a professor of psychology at the Central Washington University. He is best known for his role in teaching Washoe the chimpanzee to communicate using a set of signs taken from American sign language.^[1]

Fouts is an animal rights advocate, citing the New Zealand Animal Welfare Act as a model for legal rights for the Great Apes (Hominidae),^[1] and campaigning with British primatologist Jane Goodall for improved conditions for chimpanzees. He has written on animal law and on the ethics of animal testing.^[2] He is also an adviser to the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.^[3]

He is married to Deborah Fouts, who was the co-director and co-founder of CHCI.

^ ^a ^b FAQ, The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, Central Washington University.
^ Fouts, Roger S.; Fouts, Deborah H. & Waters, G. (2002) "The ethics and efficacy of biomedical research in chimpanzees with special regard to HIV research" in A. Fuentes & L. Wolfe, Primates face to face: Conservation implications of human-nonhuman primate interconnections, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 45-60.
^ "Advisers" Archived 2012-06-05 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, accessed 25 May 2012.