John, Wild, highly social monkeys are being illegally caught, shoved into cages and exported to the US for animal testing – and one of the biggest medical labs is profiting off of them. Let’s make it stop! A new investigation shows how long-tailed macaques in South-East Asia are being caught in the wild, then falsely labeled as captive-bred. It’s a massive monkey-laundering scheme! This does not only threaten the survival of the species in the wild, it also poses a public health risk: wild macaques can spread deadly diseases. One of the biggest US medical labs, Charles River, says it only imports captive-bred monkeys – but now their link to monkey trafficking is being scrutinized. Let's pile on the pressure, force them to dump the traffickers – and save these wild macaques! Charles River Laboratories: No more monkey business – end the illegal trade! Long-tailed macaques are the most traded, the most culled, and the most persecuted primate species in the world. Despite being endangered in the wild, they are bred in massive facilities across South-East Asia for export to biomedical labs in the US. The latest investigation by Sandy River Research shows how the numbers of exported monkeys just don’t add up with the capacity of breeding facilities in Cambodia and Vietnam, suggesting that these businesses are catching monkeys in the wild, laundering them and then selling them as captive-bred. Charles River Laboratories, one of the biggest buyers in the US, says that it puts all monkey suppliers through “enhanced due diligence, documentation, monitoring and auditing”. But it doesn’t even list all the breeding farms from which it buys long-tailed macaques – so how can they claim that? To make it worse, the lab was involved in a huge tuberculosis outbreak among imported macaques in 2023, and was subpoenaed by the US Department of Justice in relation to its Cambodian supply chain. In other words: This monkey business is not only endangering an entire species, but posing a massive public health risk. But with this latest investigation, they’ve come under scrutiny – let’s use this momentum and make Charles River cut wild monkeys from its supply chain, and end the illegal monkey trade for good.  Thanks for all that you do, More information: Fate of 1,000 trafficked lab monkeys at center of US investigation in limbo
The Guardian. 20 March, 2023 Removal from the wild endangers the once widespread long-tailed macaque
American Journal of Primatology (via NIH). 04 September, 2023 |
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