Action for Primates said: England has allowed 6,752 monkeys and other experimental animals to be imported in 2019.
The Independent noted the British Government’s Animal and Plant Health data (APHA) regarding the licensing of 6,752 imported long-tailed macaques or macaques in 2019. Most of them were unusually large, mainly from Mauritius, East Africa, 6,120, and 632 from Vietnam, and a large number of monkey tissue to be tested with various chemicals and drugs according to research laboratories.
In addition, APHA has a license to import 38 other monkeys, consisting of 25 squirrels and 7 golden tamarins. The macaque is the most trafficked lemur in the world and is widely used for research and various experiments to assess reactions to medicines or animal control chemicals by injecting or forcing food into their stomachs.
China has long been a large nation in procuring monkeys for international research.
But that has all come to an end due to new laws prohibiting the trade and transportation of wildlife in China after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the US-China trade war. Now, many countries have to look for experimental monkeys from other sources like South Africa, Mauritius, and South America captured and bred specifically for testing. In 2019 England alone imported 6,752, which is 3 times higher when compared to the year 2018 with the importation of 2,666 macaque monkeys and the year 2017 at around 1,000.
— Action for Primates (@Action4Primates) July 15, 2020
Ms. Sarah Kite of Action for Primates (AFP), a group of primates for the rights of non-human primates, asks APHA to explain the reason for the import. The sudden increase in monkeys and said that the number of monkeys imported for laboratory testing may be much higher and come from within the European Union which has many monkey breeding companies.
The monkeys bought for breeding will be taken to the zoo or wildlife market and many surveys have shown that England has thousands of monkeys kept as pets. Britain has banned tests on wild primates but still allows them to be brought in and sold as pets and allows their offspring to be imported for research.
In addition, experts warn that the unusual increase in the import of monkeys is a risk of the spread of deadly viruses that can be life-threatening to humans, such as SARS and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
— Action for Primates (@Action4Primates) July 14, 2020
AFP also cites the United States that has banned the import of lemurs for commercial purposes since 1975. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are known to carry dangerous infectious diseases and sometimes causing death to humans, including Ebola, yellow fever, smallpox, monkeys, and various unknown and unknown diseases. Last year England found 1 smallpox patient in the south-west of the country.
AFP states that importing wild animals for scientific testing helps to make money, including the villagers who catch monkeys from their habitats.
“Over the years England continues to trade with an emphasis on wild wildlife trapping. Capturing wild monkeys causes significant suffering and stress. Lemur is a highly social animal. Trap and deprivation of monkeys, families, and social groups are cruel and causing the monkies to suffer from pain or even die, “said Ms. Sarah Kite.
Ms. Kite added: “The UK has, over the years, continued to perpetuate a trade that centers on the cruel trapping of wild animals.”
The British government spokesman explained that England is one of the countries with the most comprehensive animal welfare systems in the world and strive to set the right rules for the use of animals in scientific research with 3Rs principles (Replace, Reduce, Refine), that is to replace animals with non-animal alternatives as much as possible, reducing the number of animals to be used as little as necessary to achieve the desired results with as much refinement as possible in order to reduce the suffering of the animals as much as possible.
