International pressure mounts on Mauritius to address the monkey trade
Animal protection organizations across Europe have launched a campaign calling for an end to the trade in primates from Mauritius and their use in research. The European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), is led by the BUAV and represents groups in 22 countries.
Mauritius is the world’s second largest exporter of long-tailed macaques (Macacafascicularis) for the research industry, exporting many thousands of animals each year. The country regularly exports monkeys to Europe, in particular to the UK, France and Spain. Despite listed by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (known as CITES), long-tailed macaques are widely persecuted and exploited in Mauritius. The latest figures show a 2% increase in the number of monkeys (4,240) exported between the first nine months of 2013 compared to that of 2012.
The ECEAE is also raising concerns about the introduction of the Pre-Clinical Research Bill, which it believes will inflict even further suffering on the country’s primate population and that the establishment of primate experimentation facilities in Mauritius will simply encourage further use of these animals. If the Bill is adopted, primates will be subjected to experiments in laboratories in Mauritius itself that will inflict enormous pain and suffering on the animals.
The ECEAE is concerned that European research companies, in an effort to avoid the growing public criticism of animal experimentation and attempts to impose stricter restrictions on the use of primates within the European Union, may be looking to set up primate experimentation facilities in countries where restrictions may be more lax.
Please support the “Save the Monkeys” campaign launched by the BUAV
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_the_cruel_Mauritius_monkey_trade_4
Source: ECEAE/BUAV