(LA) BUAV News Alert: Laos - investigation of the trade in primates for research

[Guest guest]

Media Release

 

23rd February 2010

 

Undercover investigation exposes shocking role played

by Laos in the international trade in primates for research

 

The BUAV, a leading international animal protection organization, is

calling on CITES (the Convention on the International Trade in

Endangered Species) to take action following its investigation into a

shocking and growing trade in primates from Laos to China and Vietnam

for the research industry. BUAV investigators were able to secretly film

inside the country’s largest monkey farm (Vannaseng Trading Company) in

the first exposé of the primate trade in Laos. We also uncovered the

construction of a large new monkey farm due to open in March 2010.

 

What has emerged is a disturbing picture of animal suffering along with

serious concerns over the conservation status of the long-tailed macaque

(Macaca fascicularis) in SE Asia and Laos’s compliance with CITES. The

investigation also raises questions about the role of primate farms in

China in re-exporting primates from Laos to research laboratories in the

USA and Europe.

 

Laos joined CITES in 2004. Between 2004 and 2008, according to the CITES

database, over 20,000 long-tailed macaques were exported from Laos to

China and Vietnam. Between 2003 and 2006, China also imported many

thousands of long-tailed macaques from Vietnam although the animals had

originated from Laos.

 

Vannaseng Trading Company reportedly houses over 10,000 monkeys

including rhesus and long-tailed macaques. Every year, thousands of

these animals are sold for around $600 each to Vietnam and China. The

monkeys are transported in shipments of 1000 or more by air or across

the border by truck.

 

Main findings from the BUAV investigation:

 

Animal welfare: The conditions at Vannaseng are in breach of the

International Primatological Society (IPS) guidelines. Thousands

of monkeys are kept in rows of small pens with no meaningful

enrichment. The pen floors are either concrete or suspended wire.

These conditions constitute overcrowding and are highly unnatural.

They would be stressful for the monkeys and lead to fighting. In

fact, BUAV investigators were told by farm management that injury

due to fighting was one of the main conditions monkeys were

treated for. Diarrhoea was also a common condition and is

consistent with highly stressful conditions.

 

Conservation of long-tailed macaque in Laos: An official from the

Laos Forestry Department admitted, during a meeting with BUAV

investigators, that no population surveys for macaques have been

carried out in Laos. Since at least 2003, however, many thousands

of macaques have been trapped in the wild in Laos for export

overseas or to establish breeding farms. According to the CITES

export database, almost 8,000 wild caught long-tailed macaques

were exported from Laos to Vietnam between 2004-2005.

 

CITES concerns: The BUAV investigation raises concerns regarding

the validity of the captive breeding claims in Laos and the

misrepresentation of source codes on CITES export permits for the

many thousands of long-tailed macaques who are exported from Laos.

Furthermore, no annual report, which is a CITES requirement, has

been submitted since Laos joined CITES in 2004.

 

Re-export of Laos monkeys to the USA and Europe: Primates at the

Vannaseng farm are not given a permanent identification such as a

tattoo or microchip. Instead, the farm uses removable neck tags as

a means of identification, a means that can be changed at will.

According to the management, this is because China and Vietnam

demand this method. The absence of a permanent method of

identification for monkeys makes the credibility of any records

kept seriously questionable. In fact, Vannaseng told the BUAV that

monkeys sold to primate supply companies in China are either used

for breeding purposes or re-exported to Europe and the USA.

 

BUAV’s Director of Special Projects, Sarah Kite states: “The BUAV

wants an end to this cruel and barbaric trade. We are calling for a full

investigation into our findings. CITES and governments must start to

address the growing concerns that surround the plundering of the macaque

populations from their native forests in South East Asia to feed the

international research industry.”

 

For further information, photos and video footage, please contact Sarah

Kite at sarah.kite <sarah.kite Visit the BUAV

website at http://www.buav.org

 

NOTES:

 

This is the fourth such investigation in SE Asia carried out by the

BUAV. In recent years, the BUAV has carried out investigations in

Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. In each case, we have uncovered

evidence of the growing exploitation of indigenous populations of

long-tailed macaques - the indiscriminate and intensive trapping of wild

monkeys to establish the numerous factory farms in the region - the

inadequacy of CITES to enforce its own regulations and the lack of

action on the part of governments to protect its primate populations.