ACTION ALERT:
Contact to DEMAND the USDA to TERMINATE Primate Products' LICENSE:
Dr Elizabeth Goldentyer
Director, USDA, Eastern Region
919-855-7100
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Thank you for seriously investigating SAEN's recent Official Complaint against PRIMATE PRODUCTS for callous negligence and issuing a citation as a result. NOW, please TERMINATE their animal dealer license. Any facility that is so NEGLIGENT that monkeys are electrocuted by heaters AND has a long history of blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act should NOT be allowed to endanger animals any longer. Their behavior MUST NOT be tolerated and MUST LOSE their animal dealer.
Secretive research monkey facilities come under scrutiny in Florida
By
TheGuardian.com, February 28, 2015
A series of events has put a tiny Florida county of less than 40,000
residents at the center of national and international controversy regarding
monkey breeding and research. They include lawsuits, protests and federal
complaints, and threaten to put southern Florida’s Hendry County on the map
for the wrong reasons.
Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), a Northern California-based nonprofit
organization, has sued to block the development of a new breeding facility
that would allegedly house up to 3,200 macaque monkeys. That facility would
be in addition to the county’s three existing facilities, where local
authorities have recently arrested multiple protesters for trespassing.
An Ohio-based activist group has also filed a complaint with the US
Department of Agriculture after staff at one lab, Primate Products, found
three macaque monkeys dead from electrocution. The complaint urges the USDA
to revoke the facility’s license to sell monkeys for research.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has also gotten
involved, arguing that macaques caught in the wild on the African island of
Mauritius are used to produce offspring that are then sent to Florida, and
Primate Products.
“The trapping and removal of wild primates from their natural habitat and
social groups has a substantial negative impact on these individuals,” says
BUAV spokeswoman Sarah Kite. “Over the years, official bodies and
organizations have called for a move away from this practice.”
The county seat of LaBelle only has around 4,600 residents, meaning that the
number of monkeys in the area could soon overtake the number of residents.
It’s hardly used to being the center of attention, says Michael Budkie,
whose organization, Stop Animal Exploitation Now, filed the January
complaint with the USDA after three monkeys were electrocuted. It is his
second such complaint in the last year.
“It’s unusual that there’s so much activity (surrounding primate breeding
and research) in one place … making (these facilities) the focus of
opposition,” Budkie says.
Animal Legal Defense Fund’s day in court is 5 March. Nick Atwood and six
other protesters who were arrested 22 November for allegedly trespassing on
the site of the Mannheimer Foundation, a research facility, are scheduled to
appear in court 12 March.
The lawsuit alleges that county should not have approved a project that
would bring monkeys to a facility still in the planning stages without
public notice or input, violating Florida’s open government law.
Chris Berry of the ALDF says his organization has filed the suit on behalf
of area residents, who feel they should have had a say in the decision to
allow the facility in Hendry County. “We’re concerned about facilities
involved in animal suffering being in compliance with the law (and) care
about community involvement in decision-making processes,” he said.
County spokeswoman Electa Waddell says the lawsuit is “totally without
merit”. She says: “None of the meetings or communications involved in this
decision violated the Sunshine Law.” County staff studied the proposal and
recommended that it be accepted, according to Waddell.
Barbara Petersen, president of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, says
she doesn’t understand why the county approved the facility the way it did.
“Why didn’t they let the public know they were doing this? This is what I
find alarming,” she says.
It is not clear who is behind the proposed facility. A company called
Primera has published a letter to the community in a local newspaper
attempting to alleviate the public’s concerns. But protestor Nick Atwood
supplied the Guardian with a document that appears to show that Primera is
managed by a Chicago-based company called PreLabs.
PreLabs didn’t respond to requests for comment. Primate Products president
and chief operating officer Thomas J Rowell also declined to comment.
Last month, businessman and conservationist Ady Gil purchased approximately
1,250 monkeys for an estimated $2m from a breeding facility in Israel. The
country has cracked down on monkey breeding for research, and some have
reported that the animals were about to be transferred to a facility in
Florida. It is not clear whether Gil’s purchase of these monkeys will have
any effect on the opening of Primera’s venture.
Macaques can be sourced from all over the world, adding to opponents’
concerns about the dangers of monkey-breeding centers in spreading disease.
According to one of the complaints filed against Hendry County:
Unlike domestic livestock, non-human primates are known carriers of a wide
array of serious infectious diseases such as Ebola, Herpes B, tuberculosis,
and parasites that may be transmitted to humans. In fact, macaques have been
responsible for outbreaks of an Ebola strain in United States research
facilities, and macaques have also escaped from other Florida breeding
facilities in the past resulting in bites and other injuries.
Michael Budkie, a former primate research worker, has been pushing to get
primates out of labs since 1986. If the Primera facility does wind up
housing around 3,000 monkeys, as suggested by its rudimentary website, it
would be unusual, he says: “Facilities of this size do not open regularly.”
Atwood, who works for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, says he is
“concerned about our state’s reputation, and the economy being based on
industries involved in animal suffering”. He also notes that the proposed
Primera facility raises quality of life issues, since it is close to
residential areas.
The USDA’s response to Budkie’s complaints about Primate Products could
include follow-up calls to the company for more information, or a site
visit, says spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa. The agency can then give the company
a chance to enter into compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, which governs
treatment of monkeys in captivity for breeding and research. It can also
levy fines of up to $10,000 for each act of noncompliance.
But there is no deadline for the agency to respond. “We want to make sure
we’re thorough,” Espinosa says. “We take as much time as needed.”
Kari Bagnall notes that many research facilities in recent years have
“retired” monkeys from experiments, prompting sanctuaries like Jungle
Friends, where she is executive director, to grow in size. Her Gainesville,
Florida, center is home to 207 monkeys, with an additional 90 scheduled to
arrive in the next six months.
“The release of these monkeys sends welcome signals of shifting beliefs
about the ultimate fate of monkeys in research,” Bagnall wrote in an email.
“However, the excitement is dampened when we hear of a new breeding facility
expecting to house 3,200 monkeys.”
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