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In April 2002, the Institute of Laboratory Animal
Research (ILAR), a component of the US National Academy
of Sciences, held a three-day workshop in Washington,
DC, USA. The subject of the workshop was "International
Perspectives -the Future of Nonhuman Primate Resources."
Mario Baudoin, a Bolivian government official, commented
that 54% of Bolivia was still forested -an area as
large as Germany and France combined. Northwest
Bolivia's forests hold 14 primate species. Baudoin
commented that people living close to the forest were
poor and that setting up a monkey breeding and
export program would give value to the forest in
their eyes. He seemed enthusiastic about the prospect
of Bolivia re-entering the monkey business.
Tom DeMarcus of the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) told about CDC's monitoring of
primate imports. DeMarcus commented that primates
could be imported for experimentation and exhibition,
but not for sale as pets. All imported primates must
pass through import stations registered with the CDC.
DeMarcus reported that in 2002 a total of 14,710
primates entered the United States, A total of
107 animals were either dead on arrival or died in
quarantine. During quarantine 526 monkeys suffered
from stress and/or diarrhea and 28 were found to have
tuberculosis. DeMarcus quoted US Fish and Wildlife
Service statistics showing that, between 1981 and
2000, 265,521 primates were imported to the United
States, an average of 13,276 monkeys per year.
He noted that primate imports were steadily increasing.
From Animal Issues (a publication of Animal
Protection Institute) Volume 31, Number 3, Fall 2000
Trafficking in Misery: The
Primate Trade
By Linda Howard & Dena Jones
On a late summer day in 1998, a China Airlines flight
carrying American and Asian vacationers touched down
on the runway at San Francisco International Airport.
Below the passengers in the plane's cargo hold sat
40 monkeys in small wooden crates. When an official
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
peered inside the individual compartments, he saw
that 11 of the animals had died, apparently from dehydration
and heat during the lengthy flight. The monkeys were
pig-tailed macaques, a species classified as "vulnerable"
by the World Conservation Union. Captured in traps
set in the forests of Indonesia, the animals were
on their way to the Regional Primate Center at the
University of Washington to be subjects in a laboratory
experiment.
Extinct Within a Generation
In January 2000, Conservation International released
its report on "Primates in Peril." The results
were grim. According to the report, one in
five species of primates could become extinct within
a generation.
More than 130 of the world's primate species are
endangered with wild populations of nonhuman primates
at risk in all of the 92 countries in which they occur.
Primates are primarily found in tropical rain forests
where they play a important role in the ecosystem
by helping to disperse seeds and pollinate plants.
Many factors contribute to the perilously small numbers
of threatened and vanishing primate species, such
as the destruction of their habitat by increasing
populations of humans and the hunting of adult monkeys
and apes for bush meat. However, capture for
export and poaching have an enormous impact on the
dwindling numbers of primate species, ranging
from the magnificent mountain gorilla to the tiny
mouse lemur.
The international trade in primates, including many
species of monkeys, chimpanzees, and orangutans, is
accelerating the decline of our closest living relatives
in the animal kingdom to the point of near extinction.
Each year, more than 32,000 wild-caught primates
are sold on the international market. Some
conservative estimates are that over one-quarter
of this trade is illegal. In fact, INTERPOL
(the international police agency) maintains that illegal
wildlife trade is a $5-billion-a-year business, second
only to drugs as a worldwide black market.
The animals are sold for food, for use in
laboratory research, for exhibition, and for keeping
by private individuals as companions.
Every year for more than a decade, the United
States has imported about 1/3 of all primates sold
internationally, a greater number of primates
than the following four importing countries combined,
with the United Kingdom consistently importing the
second highest number of primates.......
Imported for Laboratories
Under the Public Health Service Act, nonhuman primates
may be imported into the U.S. and sold only for "scientific,
educational, or exhibition purposes." Nonhuman
primates may also be imported for use in breeding
colonies provided that all offspring will be used
only for these purposes. The animals may not be imported
into the U.S. for keeping as companion animals or
for occasional display purposes. The law also does
not allow primates to be brought into the U.S. for
medical treatment or to be retired at a sanctuary.
Although some nonhuman primates are imported for exhibition
(both zoo and circus), the vast majority of
animals are brought here for use in laboratory experimentation.
Though captive primate breeding centers, largely
funded by the government, have been established in
the United States to supply primates for biomedical
research, the demand for imported primates seems to
be unabated. For some species of wild-caught primates,
the numbers of export/imports have increased.........
A Long-Held Interest
Scientists in the U.S. and elsewhere have long held
an interest in nonhuman primates. In 1928, at Yale
University, Robert M. Yerkes established the first
major primate facility, focusing almost exclusively
on behavioral observations. The facility was later
moved to Orange Park, FL, in pursuit of warmer climates.
In 1956, James Watt, at the time Director of the
U.S. National Heart Institute, visited the Institute
of Experimental Pathology and Therapy in the U.S.S.R.
Based on the primate experimentation to which he was
introduced, Watts focused his efforts to develop a
large primate research facility in the United States.
Soon after, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
formed a planning committee and decided to erect several
regionally based primate centers instead of one large
center. The first federally-funded regional primate
research center was established in 1962 in Beaverton,
OR.
A regional primate research center was dedicated
in Seattle in 1963 and in subsequent years centers
were established in five other cities: Madison, WI
(Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center); Southborough,
MA (New England Regional Primate Research Center);
Atlanta, GA (Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center);
Covington, LA (Tulane Regional Primate Research Center,
formerly Delta Regional Primate Center); and Davis,
CA (California Regional Primate Research Center.)
In September 1999, the National Institutes of Health
announced that it had established a new federally-funded
primate research center, the eighth RPRC, at the Southwest
Foundation for Biomedical Research, in San Antonio,
TX.
The eight regional primate centers currently have
in excess of 20,000 nonhuman primates representing
over 32 separate species. In addition to the regional
primate research centers, hundreds of universities
and private companies use nonhuman primates in research
throughout the United States. Nonhuman primates most
commonly used in experimentation in the U.S. are rhesus
and crab-eating or long-tailed macaques. Other primates
used as research subjects include chimpanzees; baboons;
capuchin, spider, squirrel, and vervet (also known
as "grivet" or "green") monkeys;
tamarins, and marmosets.
Use Is on the Rise
Researchers are as fascinated by nonhuman primates
now as they were 100 years ago. The number of publications
regarding primate studies has increased by more than
50% since 1970. Despite the higher costs and increasing
difficulty associated with obtaining nonhuman primates,
as well as their comparatively lower reproduction
rates, longer developmental periods, and special requirements
for handling, management, and housing, the use of
nonhuman primates is on the rise in the United States,
contrary to popular belief:
Number of nonhuman primates used in research in U.S.
Year Number of nonhuman primates
1995 50,206
1996
52,327
1997
56,381
1998
57,377
Total 216,291
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture....
In addition to xenotransplantation, nonhuman primates
are used in a vast array of experimental protocols,
including research on HIV (SHIV, SIV, AIDS); cancer;
heart disease; infectious disease; neurological disorders;
shock; nutrition; reproduction; vision; dental research;
behavior; vaccine and drug/pharmaceutical testing;
maternal deprivation; xenotransplantation; aging studies
and disease; cognition; tropical disease; and irradiation.
All About Money
While removing monkeys from the wild and shipping
them halfway around the world is costly, the alternative
of breeding them in captivity is even more expensive.
Due to the time involved, it's estimated that raising
a monkey in captivity costs three times as much as
taking one from the wild. Monkeys, both wild-caught
and captive-bred, are imported into the U.S. despite
the fact that monkeys are bred here, some of which
are even exported to other countries for research.
Shipments of monkeys are occasionally flown into the
U.S. and immediately flown out again if a U.S. airline
will accept the shipment or carry it more cheaply
than a foreign airline. The primate trade is all about
money, how the largest number of animals can be procured
for the least amount of money.
Most primates are imported, not by the research facilities
themselves, but by commercial dealers who supply the
laboratories with animals. More than half of the primates
imported to the U.S. in the past five years were brought
in by just two companies and their affiliates -- Charles
River, Inc. and Covance Research Products, Inc. (see
"Primate Suppliers").
The advent of jet airplanes in the 1940s catapulted
the primate trade industry by great magnitudes. Whereas
transporting primates by ship often took months to
complete, and resulted in a mortality rate estimated
to have been in excess of 80%, transportation by air
involved days. However, transportation by air did
nothing to decrease the suffering of primates as the
numbers of animals traded drastically increased.
Animal Misery on a Massive Scale
The international trade in primates causes animal
misery on a massive scale. At every step in
the process -- from branches in their lush jungle
home to cages in cold, barren laboratories -- primates
suffer and die by the thousands.
For one year, the British Union for the Abolition
of Vivisection (BUAV) conducted a difficult and sometimes
dangerous investigation into the international trade
in primates for research. Members of the BUAV team
traveled to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mauritius
where monkeys are captured and bred for research.
They watched as local villagers and farmers set traps
by using nets or laying bait in crates or baskets.
The large net traps, baited with fruit, are sprung
once a group of animals venture inside. Whole families
are caught in this way. Undesirable animals are not
released but may be beaten to death and sold for meat.
Surviving animals are then taken in tiny crates with
little or no food or water to holding centers where
they await shipment to the U.S. or Europe. Overcrowding
in the holding centers results in fighting between
animals. Animals may be unable to stand normally in
the small, dirty wooden crates. Some succumb to the
intense tropical heat. In the larger cages, survivors
are forced to climb over their dead companions.
Animals unwanted for research are weeded out at this
stage. Females and younger animals are most desirable.
Monkeys who are too large, too sick, too thin, or
too old are killed. According to a 1992 BUAV investigation,
up to 75% of the animals may be disposed of at the
holding centers.
Other monkeys may be taken to breeding centers to
replace breeding stock. It's difficult to accurately
determine the percentage of animals being taken from
the wild versus bred in captivity. The designation
of "captive-bred" usually refers to animals
whose parents were also born and raised in captivity;
in other words, at least two generations removed from
the wild. However, unscrupulous primate breeders have
been known to pass off as captive-bred the offspring
of pregnant females captured in the wild and even
wild-caught animals themselves.
Only 1 in 9 Survives
Animals selected for research are packed into cramped
crates and loaded into the cargo holds of passenger
airlines for the next leg of their journey (see "The
Airline Connection"). The flight may cover thousands
of miles and last 48 hours or more. Journeys usually
involve two or more flights, some with lengthy layovers.
Death during these flights is not unusual. Each year,
upon arrival at airports in the U.S. and Europe, animals
are found to have died from hypothermia, dehydration,
and diarrhea. Once on the ground, the monkeys are
trucked to holding centers, animal supply companies,
and laboratories for quarantine. During the subsequent
quarantine period more animals die from pneumonia
and other diseases. In 1998, for example, 7 monkeys
in quarantine at LABS monkey supplier in Virginia
died from "environmental causes/trauma."
A thermostat in one of the holding rooms malfunctioned
and as the temperature rose to 106 degrees, monkeys
in the upper tier cages died.
As of 1992, the BUAV estimates that in some
cases only one in every nine monkeys captured in the
wild survives the journey from the jungle to the lab.
And once the animals arrive at the research facility,
even greater misery often awaits. Locked alone in
cold metal cages, far from their tropical home, and
without companionship and appropriate environmental
enrichment, they are destined to endure pain
and suffering in the name of science and education.
Linda Howard is an animal rights advocate specializing
in primates and founder of the AESOP-Project (Allied
Effort to Save Other Primates). Dena Jones is Program
Director for the Animal Protection Institute.
The Airline Connection
Airline passengers on domestic and international
flights would be shocked to learn that they may be
flying in the same plane with monkeys destined for
research laboratories. Each year thousands of monkeys,
some of them captured from the wild, are transported
by commercial airlines to the U.S. for the purpose
of experimentation.
Animals shipped long distances as cargo suffer from
cramped conditions, inadequate ventilation, and extreme
temperature fluctuations. Suffering and death can
result, as illustrated by the following incidents
described in U.S. government documents obtained by
the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
(BUAV) and the International Primate Protection League
(IPPL), and provided to API:
* In August 1992, Lufthansa Airlines shipped 110
long-tailed macaques from Indonesia. All 110 monkeys
on board were discovered dead on the plane's arrival
in Florida. Shock and stress caused by freezing temperatures
and lack of proper ventilation was cited as the cause.
* In May 1997, Air France transported a shipment of
monkeys from Indonesia to the U.S., via Paris. During
the flight, one monkey escaped from her crate, causing
the entire shipment to be held up for two days while
all of the crates were reinforced to prevent further
escapes. In Paris, a nursing female monkey was found
dead, and her baby subsequently killed. Although the
shipment of pregnant females and suckling young is
a violation of U.S. law, Air France has yet to be
charged.
* In March 1998, two long-tailed monkeys were found
to be dead among a shipment of animals transported
by Garuda Indonesia Airlines from Indonesia to Los
Angeles.
* In August 1998, in a shipment of animals transported
by China Airlines from the Philippines to Atlanta,
two long-tailed monkeys were discovered to be dead
from colitis and diarrhea.
Thanks to the efforts of BUAV and IPPL, a number of
U.S.-based and foreign airlines have agreed to no
longer transport primates. Delta, TWA, and United,
for example, all refuse to participate in this despicable
trade that causes suffering and death to tens of thousands
of primates each year. Unfortunately, several airlines
remain to be convinced. In joining the BUAV in its
primate trade campaign, API asks its members to consider
individual airline involvement in the primate trade
when making flight arrangements.
_____________________________________________________
Airlines continuing to transport primates (partial
list):
American Airlines
Continental (1)
Northwest Airlines
US Airways (2) Aeroflot (Russia)
Air China (China)
Air France (France)
China Airlines (Taiwan) (3)
China Eastern Airlines (China)
Egyptair (Egypt)
El-Al (Israel)
Japan Airlines (Japan)
Lufthansa (Germany)
(1) Continental has adopted a policy banning primates
on international flights.
(2)US Airways has an embargo on the transport of laboratory
animals to Frankfurt, London, and Paris, and ships
monkeys domestically only for zoo transfer and not
for laboratory research.
(3)China Airlines announced that as of September 5,
2000, it "will not accept live primates destined
for experimentation as cargo."
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