What About Monkeys?
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS)
July 2014

NEAVS published scientific papers on the topic and spread the word about how much humans and chimpanzees have in common. We know humans and chimps are deserving of compassion. So too are monkeys.

Newton

Imagine being confined alone in a small cage – without knowing why or having committed a crime. Thousands of monkeys in laboratories don’t have to imagine because it is the life they live. The Animal Welfare Act’s (AWA) requirement for social housing for primates is easy to circumvent. A lab need only say it is necessary for the research – which often means it is a convenience, even if devastating for the monkey.

On the heels of our successes for chimpanzees in labs comes our new initiative: What About Monkeys? At the heart of our Project R&R: Release and Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories campaign was the psychological toll research use and confinement caused chimpanzees. NEAVS published scientific papers on the topic and spread the word about how much humans and chimpanzees have in common. We know humans and chimps are deserving of compassion. So too are monkeys.

The rest of the non-human primates fare no different in labs than chimpanzees or we would. They suffer symptoms of severe stress and psychological breakdowns such as self-mutilation, endless spinning, and other abnormal behaviors. Why is this tolerated as “typical” monkey behavior, when it so clearly is not?

Monkeys need to live in groups, with access to the outdoors and opportunities for choice and self-determination (the AWA requirement for enrichment is another regulation easy to sidestep). They are just like us and chimpanzees. Common sense, the capacity for empathy, as well as scientific research itself shows – without question – that monkeys suffer severe psychological distress in labs.  

For more information, PLEASE visit NEAVS - Summer 2014 Update.

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