Horror over UK monkey testing

Screaming and terrified, a baby monkey intended for use in British laboratories shakes with fear after being cruelly snatched from its parents at a breeding farm.

Its mum and dad were themselves taken from the wild to be caged and breed babies in frightening conditions.

There’s a worrying rise in the UK use of long-tailed macaques, like this one in Mauritius, for testing and research, despite an EU law against it.

And today, on International Primate Day, Animal Defenders International calls on our Government to explain it.

ADI chief Jan Creamer said: “The public will be horrified to learn that not only is Britain still a major primate user, but it allows researchers to use monkeys whose parents have been taken from the wild and used as breeding machines too.

“The UK effectively encourages dealers in Vietnam and Mauritius to stock their factory farms by trapping wild monkeys.”

Latest figures show a 12 per cent rise in use at British labs. A total of 246 offspring of wild-caught monkeys, known as “F1” primates were used in UK labs last year, accounting for some 10 per cent of

primate use. Under EU law, use of F1s will be phased out by 2023. It seemed the UK Government was moving towards this deadline, with no F1s used in British labs from 2014 to 2016, and just one in 2017.

But there are concerns this could spiral out of control if there is deregulation and an abandoning of EU rules after Brexit.

A total of 2,606 long-tailed macaques were imported into Britain last year, 2,064 from Mauritius and 542 from Vietnam.

In Mauritius ADI filmed pregnant monkeys being manhandled and pinned down, and monkeys swung by their tails at key breeding facility, Biodia. In Vietnam they saw monkeys kept in small rusting cages which were in a state of collapse.

Most primates (2,148) were last year used for regulatory safety tests on substances and would endure forcefeeding or injections of experimental compounds and full body restraints. Side effects can be horrific.

To help, ask your MP to back Early Day Motion 2228: Developing Innovative Science – Better for Animals and People.

You can contact your

MP via the website

theyworkforyou.com.

TAKEN Young long-tailed macaque is snatched from parents in Mauritius