Wild monkeys ‘sent to British laboratories’

Wild monkeys are being illegally trapped and plundered from the forests of south‑east Asia for use in British research laboratory experiments, fear animal welfare ­campaigners.

Campaigners and MPs are calling on the Home Office to examine allegations that wild-caught macaques are being sourced from the jungles of Laos and Cambodia in breach of international conservation regulations.

Undercover investigators from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) found “appalling” conditions at one primate centre in Laos where the “factory farming of macaques takes place on an industrial scale”.



They said monkeys were kept in rows of small chain-linked pens whose floors were made of either concrete or suspended wire.

And infants were taken from their mothers aged six months, they said, causing extreme distress to both. Non-human primates can only be imported into the UK for toxicology and medical research tests from companies approved by British inspectors.

The regulations are aimed at ensuring adequate conditions and preventing ruthless businessmen cashing in on the booming trade by trapping monkeys in the wild. However, the BUAV fears those rules are being broken.

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