The BUAV's investigation of the international trade in primates for research has appeared in the UK's Sunday Express newspaper, including our investigators' graphic photos depicting the cruelty of the trade in Laos and Cambodia. The trade in wild caught monkeys for research is recognised globally as cruel and immoral.

In 1995, following BUAV's Paradise Lost campaign, the UK government announced a ban on the import of wild caught monkeys. Every year hundreds of monkeys from SE Asia are imported into the UK for research, and recently the UK government admitted that a monkey farm in Cambodia has now been approved by the Home Office to supply monkeys to the UK research industry. The BUAV is also concerned that monkeys originating in Laos may be ending up in UK research laboratories.

BUAV's investigations in SE Asia have raised serious concerns regarding the continuing plundering of the forests of SE Asia by monkey dealers to establish and replenish monkey farms, the  mislabelling of wild-caught monkeys as captive-bred, poor welfare conditions at breeding and supply facilities and breaches in CITES regulations.

The BUAV does not believe that the UK government should be associating itself with such cruelty and breaches in international regulations. We believe this violates the spirit of the 1995 wild-caught ban and shows that the Home Office’s approval and accreditation of overseas primate companies to the UK is flawed. We are calling on the Home Office to carry out an immediate investigation.

See article here.

More information: Torn from the Wild or Monkey Misery in Laos.

7th March 2010