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Statement From Ardith A. Eudey, Ph.D. on Animal Experimentation TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am a primatologist with my academic training in biological
anthropology. In 1973, I began an ongoing field study of the ecological
adaptations of sympatric species of macaque monkeys (Macaca spp.)
in western Thailand. For 14 years I taught courses and seminars on, or
including, primate behavior on both the college and university level
before focusing my professional activities on the conservation of
primates in Asia. All macaque monkeys, rhesus monkeys included, are social and
gregarious primates and highly intelligent. All of their activities
including foraging for food (and water) and feeding, which may occupy a
good percentage of the day, and social behavior such as grooming and
play and sexual behavior, are carried out as members of complex social
groups. Having been born and/or raised in captivity would not diminish
the biological potential for these behaviors. To isolate and subject
monkeys to restraint, such as restraint chair confinement, for any
period of time or to deprive them of water (or food) for extended
periods of time, such as 22 hours, would be extremely stressful and
unethical in my opinion and might well invalidate the results of tests
conducted with or on them. In a wild (natural) population of macaques,
members of the social group would attempt to help a monkey remove any
foreign object, be it animate or inanimate, from its head. To limit or
further limit the motion of a monkey by surgically implanting
restraining bars in its skull I would think would subject the monkey to
extreme stress and discomfort. Considering our current knowledge of primate intelligence and
behavior, one wonders why research institutions would have recourse to
the procedures of deprivation mentioned above in experiments involving
primates and other animals. Ardith A. Eudey, Ph.D. See also:
Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals
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