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

Newsletters
The Defender
From Spring 2009 Issue

From the Desk of Michael Budkie, SAEN’s Executive Director

Animal experimentation is a huge issue, and according to recent USDA numbers animal use in the U.S. is increasing. We really have no accurate idea of how many animals are victimized in the U.S., because many animals including rats, mice, birds, etc. receive no protection under the law and are not even counted by regulatory agencies.

The situation is very similar with non-human primates. Even though we know how many are used in experimentation, we still don’t know how many primates are actually held captive in labs, because the USDA only compiles statistics on the monkeys and apes that are actually used in experimentation. Those that are imprisoned for breeding purposes aren’t totaled on a national basis. As annual primate experimentation statistics continue to climb, it is certain that the number of primates held captive for breeding is also increasing. The combined total of primates incarcerated in the U.S. is probably closing in on 150,000.

And yet, this soaring total is not enough for those who systematically abuse primates in research labs. The facility populations of 5000, 7000, or even 8000 primates are insufficient for the avaricious desires of the primate research industry. And so, this business that is based on suffering is seeking to expand into the natural areas of the world to snatch even more monkeys from the wild, forcing them to become part of this world of abusive confinement and torture.

As those who abuse primates have expanded their plans for increasing the suffering of monkeys and apes into other parts of the world, SAEN has followed them, at least figuratively, and we have begun to investigate the funding of primate breeding colonies in other nations, including Nepal. Our government is currently funding the breeding of primates (rhesus monkeys) in Nepal for importation to the United States. This funding flows through the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, TX (SWFBR).

The SWFBR conveniently ignored the fact that at least at the beginning of this endeavor, it was illegal to export monkeys out of Nepal for research purposes. They also seem to ignore the idea that many of the primates which they capture are not suitable for breeding, because they carry one virus or another, and SWFBR wants to have pathogen free animals. No problem, they simply slaughter any monkeys that don’t meet their specifications. So far, 30 primates have died in Nepal simply, because they didn’t meet SWFBR specifications.

Why would SWFBR, who already has over 5500 primates want more of them? This is simple. These primates, and their offspring, can be sold for over $5500 each. SWFBR has projected a cash flow from the sale of these primates of over $1 million for a five year period. And these profits are above and beyond the almost $600,000 in annual funding that SWFBR receives from the National Institutes of Health for this project.

SAEN has been working hard to fight this insanity. Our investigations have uncovered documents crucial to this struggle, and we have shared this information with activists opposing the primate trade in Nepal. These documents were used to file a lawsuit in the Nepalese Supreme Court in opposition to the farming and exportation of monkeys. A temporary restraining order has been obtained and so the monkey sales have been at least temporarily halted. The litigation was at least partially dependent on information which SAEN provided.

We are fighting the abuse of laboratory animals across the United States, and wherever else the battle takes us, making a real difference!

What we have learned, yet again, is that despite their protests to the contrary, animal experimentation is about one thing and one thing only – money. Whether it is the grant dollars for useless and redundant experiments, or the millions of dollars brought in by the primate slave trade, money is the real motivation.

The only legitimate place for non-human primates is in their natural habitat. The only good laboratory cage is an empty one. With your help we will continue to fight for an end to animal experimentation in the U.S. and anywhere else that the battle takes us. Your contributions to SAEN make all of our work for primates and the other animals that suffer and die in labs possible.

Thank you.

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