real lives

Individual stories through our investigator's eyesreal lives
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The sorrowful stories of some of the monkeys that the BUAV investigator got to know...

Belanna

Belanna
Belanna was distinctive with her pale pink skin and white fur. She was brain damaged on 28/6/01. She deteriorated, lost a lot of weight and started to behave strangely. Described by researchers as 'watching the birdies', she continued to be used in behavioural tests and was killed just four months later.

Tonga

Tonga
Tonga was brain damaged on 7/1/02 as part of the stroke experiment. She never fully recovered after the surgery and could be seen in a pitiful condition. She was eventually killed.

Carl

Carl
Carl was a friendly male breeder who lived with Tic Tac and their family. He had been used in an experiment in 1997. During 2001 he deteriorated. He lost weight and looked emaciated. He was eventually killed at only six years old.

Pinnochio

Pinnochio
Pinnochio was brain damaged on 13/8/01. Three days later he suddenly collapsed in his cage. The following morning on 17/8/01 he was found dead.

Carina

Carina
Carina was scheduled to be brain damaged on 3/5/01. However, this had to be abandoned as she woke up on the operating table as the first skin incision was made to her head. She was given another anaesthetic but would not go down again so her head was re-stitched. The second attempt was made a few days later.

Sherwood & Ski

Sherwood & Ski
Sherwood & Ski were subjected to two brain surgeries each within a couple of months of each other. They were then given multiple injections of a chemical over a period of time before being killed on 29/11/01; their brains were dissected for examination and then stored in jars.

Baloo

Baloo
Baloo was brain damaged on 13/11/01. Behavioural tests carried out included Baloo being injected with amphetamine and apomorphine and put in a small perspex box for up to an hour at a time; an experience he obviously found very distressing.

Enemy

Enemy
Enemy lived with his family. They were one of the tamer and friendlier groups in the unit. The family suffered an illness resulting in some family members dying. His mother, Pinks, was killed on 31/10/01. Enemy himself has since been killed. The fate of the rest of this close-knit family is not known.

Turks

Turks
Turks was a very sensitive and nervous monkey. She was brain damaged on 17/12/01. Surgery did not finish until 7pm. When the researcher left her for the night, Turks was still unconscious. The following day she was sick on a number of occasions. She then spent the last few weeks of her life alone in a cage before being killed.

Sebastian

Sebastian
Sebastian was born on 10/4/98 at Porton Down. He arrived at the lab in December 1999. During 2001, he was put in a small perspex box and used in drug behavioural tests before and after being brain damaged twice within one month. He was killed on 11/9/01.

Extracts from the BUAV investigator's secret diary which she kept to record her thoughts during her gruelling 10 month investigation at Cambridge University.

23/04/2001
"I was told that the freezer will have to be emptied soon as it is full of dead marmoset bodies."
29/06/2001
"Belanna was put back in her cage. Her cage mate, Tiffany, kept wrapping himself around the whole of Belanna's body and holding her with his paws over her head whilst he stared up at us as though he was protecting her. I never saw him do this before Belanna had the lesion."
12/07/2001
"Canio was in a white cage. He was very wobbly and couldn't stand up without lurching from side to side trembling."
31/07/2001
"Cuba is now on half-rations and no breakfast despite the fact that she still looks thin and unkempt with greasy and matted fur."
01/08/2001
"Virgo continued screaming in the incubator in Room 4. She was very stressed being there. Her head was very bloody. She smacked her head against the side of the incubator trying to escape and made it worse."
24/11/2001
"Lore is still very immobile and even less active than yesterday. He shakes too. Peggy is also quiet and inactive. She does not see what is in front of her face and can only eat with one side of her mouth."
20/12/2001
"Turks was put back in her cage today. She is very nervous and frightened now and spent a lot of time hiding in the nest box."
real lives