PETA claims win against the US over monkey smuggling issues
In Thailand, monkeys are celebrated.
A festival is held every year to honour them. The event attracts tourists from around the world.
It’s a different story for thousands of other monkeys caught in the wild and sent to labs in the United States.
The endangered macaques are sourced mainly from Cambodia.
If being crammed into wooden crates on planes seems bad, what happens when they reach their destination is normally far worse.
Scientists believe non-human primates are more useful for testing drugs and studying diseases.
The rise in demand by US laboratories for monkeys peaked at more than 76 thousand in 2017.
And they don’t come cheap. Each monkey costs up to 10,000 US dollars.
Experts are calling on the government to invest in local breeding programmes.
US agencies are finally listening, and have temporarily halted shipments from Cambodia.
Usually, special permits are required to import macaques.
But many are illegally purchased when there's a shortage from breeding farms.
There’s been supply issues since China banned monkey exports during the pandemic.
The US was then forced to fill supply gaps, by turning to Cambodia.
But in November 2022, officials in the Asian country and their co-conspirators were indicted in a worldwide monkey-laundering scheme.
Like money laundering which is illegal, it’s also against the law to take monkeys from their natural habitat.
To provide specimens for testing labs, monkeys are ripped from their families, harming wild populations.
Their absence means they cannot contribute to the natural regeneration of forests.
The NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is concerned about the illegal trade, treatment of monkeys, and the potential imports of dangerous viruses too.
They fear that the next lab leak like the coronavirus pandemic is not a matter of if it will occur, but when.
A festival is held every year to honour them. The event attracts tourists from around the world.
It’s a different story for thousands of other monkeys caught in the wild and sent to labs in the United States.
The endangered macaques are sourced mainly from Cambodia.
If being crammed into wooden crates on planes seems bad, what happens when they reach their destination is normally far worse.
Scientists believe non-human primates are more useful for testing drugs and studying diseases.
The rise in demand by US laboratories for monkeys peaked at more than 76 thousand in 2017.
And they don’t come cheap. Each monkey costs up to 10,000 US dollars.
Experts are calling on the government to invest in local breeding programmes.
US agencies are finally listening, and have temporarily halted shipments from Cambodia.
Usually, special permits are required to import macaques.
But many are illegally purchased when there's a shortage from breeding farms.
There’s been supply issues since China banned monkey exports during the pandemic.
The US was then forced to fill supply gaps, by turning to Cambodia.
But in November 2022, officials in the Asian country and their co-conspirators were indicted in a worldwide monkey-laundering scheme.
Like money laundering which is illegal, it’s also against the law to take monkeys from their natural habitat.
To provide specimens for testing labs, monkeys are ripped from their families, harming wild populations.
Their absence means they cannot contribute to the natural regeneration of forests.
The NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is concerned about the illegal trade, treatment of monkeys, and the potential imports of dangerous viruses too.
They fear that the next lab leak like the coronavirus pandemic is not a matter of if it will occur, but when.
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