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Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Newsletters
The Defender
From Fall 2008 Issue

Addiction to Torture

The Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University (MCV) is one of many laboratories that use rhesus monkeys in drug addiction experiments. One of the projects at MCV is among the oldest in the U.S. dragging on for 30 consecutive years and currently squanders over $400,000 per year.

According to USDA reports filed by MCV, the rhesus monkeys used in this experiment suffer from unrelieved pain and distress because they often experience the throes of drug withdrawal. Yet, this is not the only agony that they endure.

Internal documents from MCV reveal that these innocent animals experience such severe stress that they often become self-abusive. Rhesus monkey M1390 endured a lifetime of suffering at MCV:

“Arrived years ago and from the beginning had difficulty adjusting to the lab. Throughout the years several attempts were made to address his behavior problems using enrichment and various experimental protocols. He would show improvement for a period but would return to bouts of stereotypic behavior including aggression and self injurious behavior. Due to recent indications that his behavior had worsened, the PI opted to remove the animal from study and request euthanasia.”

Many of the primates within this facility are so severely disturbed that they tear out their own hair. Fur is plucked from arms, legs, tails, and heads. One monkey was so disturbed that he/she removed all of the hair from his/her head, resulting in baldness.

Additionally, these animals suffer with surgically implanted catheters, which they often rip out. Infections are not uncommon. Jackets are placed on these monkeys in a vain effort to protect the catheters. This serves only to cause more stress as the monkeys chew and tear at the jackets in frustration. Some of these rhesus monkeys become so agitated that they shake and bang on the cages and tear at the restrictive jackets. Others, seeming to give up, simply lie on the floor of the cage and clutch their tails.

The brutality of the experiments at MCV is worsened by negligence which causes even more suffering and death. On Friday, 11/9/07, a “flood” occurred in the area where the primates are housed. Then on Monday, 11/12/07, MCV staff discovered that as many as seven of the primates suffered due to a weekend watering system malfunction. One of these animals was so dehydrated that intravenous fluids were required. Another instance of negligence apparently allowed a rhesus monkey to die of suffocation on December 28^th, 2007.

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