Wild, highly social monkeys are being illegally caught,
shoved into cages and exported to the U.S. for animal testing – and
one of the biggest medical labs is profiting off of them.
Let’s make it stop!
A breaking new investigation shows how long-tailed macaques in
South-East Asia are being caught in the wild, then falsely
labeled as captive-bred. It’s a massive monkey-laundering
scheme! This does not only threaten the survival of the species
in the wild, it also poses a public health risk: wild macaques can
spread deadly diseases.
One of the biggest US medical labs, Charles River, says it only
imports captive-bred monkeys – but now their link to monkey
trafficking is being scrutinized. Let's pile on the pressure,
force them to dump the traffickers – and save these wild
macaques!
Charles River Laboratories: No more monkey business –
end the illegal trade!
Long-tailed macaques are the most traded, the most culled, and
the most persecuted primate species in the world. Despite being
endangered in the wild, they are bred in massive facilities across
South-East Asia for export to biomedical labs in the US.
The latest investigation by Sandy River Research shows how the
numbers of exported monkeys just don’t add up with the capacity of
breeding facilities in Cambodia and Vietnam, suggesting that
these businesses are catching monkeys in the wild, laundering
them and then selling them as captive-bred.
Charles River Laboratories, one of the biggest buyers in the US,
says that it puts all monkey suppliers through “enhanced due
diligence, documentation, monitoring and auditing”. But it doesn’t
even list all the breeding farms from which it buys long-tailed
macaques – so how can they claim that?
To make it worse, the lab was involved in a huge tuberculosis
outbreak among imported macaques in 2023, and was subpoenaed by
the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to its Cambodian supply
chain.
In other words: This monkey business is not only endangering an
entire species, but posing a massive public health risk. But with
this latest investigation, they’ve come under scrutiny – let’s use
this momentum and make Charles River cut wild monkeys from its
supply chain, and end the illegal monkey trade for good.
Charles River Laboratories: No more monkey business –
clean up your long-tailed macaque supply chains!
