Harvard University
Government documents for 1/22/01 reveal violations in
the areas of IACUCs, veterinary care, housing, and environmental
enrichment. Several primates were recovering from anesthesia without
posting of their condition or observation. Several primates are noted
with substantial hair loss (a potential sign of stress), and another
primate is showing evidence of a bloody nose. Primate #210-99 –
“exhibits hair loss, crouching type behavior, and pattern type movements
around cage. No evidence in records that any behavioral abnormalities
were noted.” Information from other sources (i.e. a report filed by
Harvard with the NIH) reveals some startling instances of death and
disease at the primate center.
Harvard/NENPRC (New England National Primate Research
Center) houses rhesus monkeys, cynomolgus monkeys, marmosets, aotus
monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and cotton-top tamarins. The overall colony
size began the year at 1705 primates and ended the year at 1749.
Essentially, the size of the colony did not change in any meaningful
way.
The colony of cotton-top tamarins did not change in
size. 22 tamarins were born, and 22 died. The center started the year
with 1062 rhesus macaques. There were 92 live births, 127 died in
experimentation, 17 died of natural causes, and 48 came to the center
from outside sources – resulting in an ending population of 1058. 8
aotus monkeys began the year at the center, one died during
experimentation, leaving 7 at the end of the year. 60 squirrel monkeys
started the year at the center. 12 were added to the population from
outside sources, 15 died during experimentation, leaving 57 at the end
of the year.
Potentially the most significant finding came in the
marmoset colony. 323 marmosets started the year at NENPRC. 5 marmosets
were born during the year. 222 more marmosets were brought in from
outside sources. 15 marmosets died during experimentation. However, 148
died of disease or other non-experimental causes. The majority of these
deaths from disease came in the experimental colony of marmosets. This
colony began the year with only 145, with 39 being added during the
year. 15 died during experimentation and another 144 died of disease,
leaving only 25 at the end of the year. In other words, 80% of this
colony died of disease during the year. This is an outrageous level of
death from disease, and must draw the veterinary care at the NENPRC into
question.
Overall, 417 primates died at the center during the
last reporting year, or approximately 1 out of every 5. At least, the
pathology section of the report lists 417 post mortem workups
(necropsies) being done on center primates. This may be cause for
concern because the colony tables list only 368 deaths. This is a
discrepancy of 49 primates.
The successful birth rate at the NENPRC is also a
cause for concern. The progress report lists 119 live births. The report
also lists post mortem workups on 144 neonatal/aborted primates, which
could indicate an infant mortality rate of 55%. This information can be
broken down further. 5 marmosets, 92 rhesus macaques, and 22 tamarins
were born. However, the same report lists post mortem reports for 17
rhesus macaques, 47 tamarins, and 80 marmosets – all in the
neonatal/abortion category. These statistics may indicate a very high
rate of abortions/stillbirths. This could be the source of the 49
primate discrepancy listed above. There may have been 49 naturally
occurring abortions at the primate center. If this is the case, then
there were 168 total pregnancies at the center. All that can be said for
certain is that young primates do not survive at NENPRC.
The bacteriological lab at NENPRC diagnosed the
presence of many very pathogenic bacteria within the primates.
Staphylococcus bacteria were isolated 233 times from center primates.
Other pathogenic bacteria were also isolated: E. coli – 318, and
Streptococcus was isolated 238 times. As many as 45% of the center’s
final population could have been positive for one of these pathogenic
bacteria.
