(CN): 50,000 monkeys held in Chinese hell farms

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/07/26/the-monkey-factory-115875-21\

548309/

*50,000 monkeys held in Chinese hell farms*

 

By Richard Jones; Nick Owens <http://www.mirror.co.uk/authors/nick-owens/>

26/07/2009 <http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/07/26/>

 

Cowering behind bars in secret breeding farms... these are the monkeys

trapped in China's cruel plan to become the world's biggest exporter of chimps

for scientific tests.

 

One farm nearing completion will be able to hold 50,000 monkeys - making it the

largest in the world.

 

Thousands of these frightened creatures are heading for the UK, victims of a

booming global demand from pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies for animals to

use in tests.

 

Figures released last week reveal that the number of live tests on monkeys

in Britain soared by 16 per cent to 4,598 in the past year.

 

And yesterday animals rights groups blasted the increasing use of chimps for

testing in the UK and called on politicians here to end the cruel trade.

 

Andrew Tyler, of Animal Aid, said: " Testing on monkeys is a savage, ugly and

pointless business. If the public were to see what is happening to these

poor monkeys during tests they would be horrified. "

 

The Sunday Mirror uncovered disturbing images inside the monkey farms after

visiting the Conghua area of Guangzhou province in China. Home to more than

40 farms, chimps arrive here from Cambodia and are bred to be sold across

the globe.

 

Obscured by hills and notoriously secretive, the chimp camps are hidden away

from the world. But our investigators - posing as businessman looking to

help supply monkeys to the UK for testing - were able to get access to some

of the farms.

 

Inside, monkeys were packed tight into cages. Mothers clutched their babies

in the sterile prisons awaiting the journey to the labs of Europe, America

and the Far East where they will be tortured in the name of science.

 

Most of the monkeys fetch about £1,000 each. But cruel farm managers spend as

little as 20p a day caring for them.

 

China's market in exporting chimps - sought after by companies to test on

because they are the closest animal to man - is now worth an estimated

£150million a year.

 

Around 90,000 monkeys were used in tests in labs across the world last year, and

the vast majority were from Chinese farms.

 

One farm currently being built by the Guangzhou Blooming Spring Biological

Technology Development Co is hidden in the countryside and invisible from any

main road.

 

Cages are concealed in a pink-tiled compound over a kilometre in length and

are surrounded by a 12ft guarded wall. On arriving at the farm a supervisor

boasted to our investigators: " We have bought that hillside and soon it will

be covered in cages. We already have feeding facilities for 50,000. "

 

In the farm's laboratory - where scientists test monkeys for diseases

petrified chimps, many carrying babies, are locked behind steel doors and let

out high-pitched screams as they are tested.

 

At another camp, the Huazhen Laboratory Center, a manager explained how the

UK is now becoming an increasingly important market for Chinese monkey farm

owners to crack.

 

Laboratory manager Mr Huazhen said: " I have already visited animal

laboratories at Huntington, Oxford. I have no doubt in my mind China will soon

be the most important exporter of monkeys in the world. "

 

EXPERIMENTS IN BRITAIN IN 2008

 

Scientists carried out 3.7million experiments on live animals in Britain

last year - the highest number for two decades. As well as the 4,598

experiments on monkeys they included:

 

2.4million on mice

 

605,000 on fish

 

355,000 on rats

 

123,000 on birds

 

17,000 on rabbits

 

9,000 on horses and donkeys

 

360 on cats

 

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