Kategorie: Animals

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Charles River Laboratories may not have told the whole truth when it released its annual shareholder report last month. The report followed the company’s announcement that it was under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for possible involvement in an alleged monkey-smuggling ring.

PETA, in a letter today, is calling on Charles River CEO James Foster to come clean to shareholders with the whole truth, including the facts below—one of which is that the company purchases monkeys from the unindicted co-conspirators in the alleged smuggling operation:

• A recent DOJ indictment alleges that monkeys sold by Vanny Bio Research (Colombia) Corporation Ltd. (VBRC) were being laundered as “captive-bred,” despite being wild-caught. Last year, Charles River’s Reno laboratory received 697 long-tailed macaques from Worldwide Primates, believed to be one of the two unindicted co-conspirators referred to in the DOJ complaint.
• Charles River has also received at least 2,537 long-tailed macaques, shipped to laboratories across the country, from two monkey-import facilities in Alice, Texas, owned by Inotiv, whose principal primate supplier is VBRC.
• Records indicate that Charles River also obtains monkeys from a second Cambodian monkey supplier, KF LTD, which was previously known as Golden China Group and reportedly engaged in the illegal capture of long-tailed macaques.
• The importation of monkeys by Charles River and other U.S. laboratory suppliers is pushing two species to the brink of extinction.
• PETA recently revealed that last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted monkey importers that long-tailed macaques imported from Cambodia had been arriving infected with a bacteria so deadly that it’s listed as a Tier 1 Select Agent.

“Charles River’s shareholders have a right to know that their company is linked to businesses allegedly mixed up in illegally importing wild monkeys,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “PETA is calling on Charles River to divulge its full role in driving the extinction of macaques worldwide by importing and experimenting on monkeys instead of embracing superior animal-free research.”

PETA previously submitted a shareholder resolution calling on Charles River to report on the species, country of origin, and number of monkeys it imports into the U.S. and to report any measures it takes to mitigate its impact on monkeys’ dwindling wild populations.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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Forget Cocaine Bear—a new incident involving a wild animal on drugs is making headlines. According to reports, an African serval cat formerly kept as an illegal “pet” in Ohio is recovering at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden after a harrowing ordeal. The serval, who allegedly escaped from his owner’s car and climbed a tree, was ultimately rescued by animal control officials. Unfortunately, he sustained a broken leg in the process—and a toxicology report revealed that there was cocaine in his system. Thankfully, he’s receiving veterinary care and expected to recover.

Wild Animals Aren’t ‘Pets’—Leave Servals and Other Animals in Peace

The exotic-animal trade poses a danger to humans as well as animals. There have been dozens of attacks by captive wild cats on humans in the past decade. In one incident, a tiger mauled his owner’s 3-year-old grandson. A lion killed several dogs and trapped a child in his room, and a Bengal tiger tore off the arm of a 4-year-old boy.

Selling protected wildlife in stores, at auctions, or on the Internet is one of the largest sources of criminal earnings, behind only arms smuggling and drug trafficking. But the animals pay the price. Many don’t survive the journey from their homes, and those who do often die prematurely from malnutrition, an unnatural and uncomfortable environment, loneliness, or the overwhelming stress of confinement.

In the hands of unprepared or incompetent owners, many exotic animals die or are abandoned outdoors. Without appropriate habitats or rehabilitation, these animals starve or fall victim to the elements or predators. Those who do survive may overpopulate and wreak havoc on local ecosystems, killing native species.

Few Government Regulations

Federal, state, and local governments are passing laws that prohibit the private ownership of certain dangerous species, but most of these regulations are poorly enforced and designed to protect humans from injury and disease rather than ensuring that animals are handled humanely.

What You Can Do to Help Animals Like the Cocaine Cat

Never buy exotic animals—or any other animals—from dealers, breeders, or pet shops, and support legislation that would make owning them illegal and prohibit their interstate sale.

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