New pictures of monkeys reveal the reality behind Camarney SL and animal testing

Our partner Abolición Vivisección has sent us new photos showing the reality of Camarney SL in Camarles (Tarragona, Spain). This is the largest primate distribution and experimentation centre in Europe. Since 2003, it has imported more than 30,000 long-tailed macaques from Mauritius, and more than 7,000 from Vietnam.

The macaques are captured and transported from their country of origin to Camarney, crammed into small transit crates. The conditions of these appalling transports, which can last up to two days, mean that many of them do not survive. Once in Camarney, the macaques are caged until they are sent to other laboratories where they are “used”, or “sacrificed” because they cannot be “sold” to other laboratories.

Despite Camarney’s long list of irregularities and negligence, the evidence of illegal trafficking of long-tailed macaques, and the fact that these were declared endangered in 2022, the Generalitat of Catalonia has continued to allow Camarney to continue its “activity”, and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge has continued to authorise the importation of thousands of macaques destined for slaughter.

These new pictures show that the macaques locked up at Camarney remain in deplorable and unsanitary conditions and are subjected to mistreatment. Even before being “used” in an experiment, they suffer serious injuries, lesions, diseases and even mutilations, which further aggravate the consequences of the experiments. These pictures are not an isolated case in Europe; they are further proof of the way Europe’s largest primate centre operates and of the cruelty and suffering that lie behind animal experimentation.

For all these reasons, together with Abolición Vivisección, we once again call on the Generalitat of Catalonia to immediately suspend Camarney’s activities and take urgent measures to close it down permanently.

We strongly condemn the trade in long-tailed macaques for animal testing. Every year, thousands of these animals are taken from their natural environment or bred in intensive farms in Asia and Mauritius. Packed into cramped crates for long hours of transport, they suffer extreme stress. We would like to remind everyone that beyond their current classification as an "endangered" species, behind each individual lies a story of suffering that no one should ignore.

Muriel Arnal

President and founder of the association One Voice

This incredibly thin and sick macaque is missing a piece of its tail. The tail of a long-tailed macaque is not only a beautiful part of their body, it also has a function. It helps them to keep its balance when moving quickly through the treetops and acts as a rudder when swimming. Their tails are also incredibly expressive, curling over their backs when they are alert and excited. This devastated monkey has not only lost a piece of their tail. They seem to have lost the will or ability to live.

Lisa Jones-Engel

Primatologist, Senior Scientific Advisor, PETA

The images leaked from Camarney reflect what animal welfare organisations across Europe have been denouncing for years: animals mistreated, kept in appalling conditions, fed inadequate diets, with deep wounds treated in inappropriate facilities and under unacceptable hygienic conditions. What these images reveal is beyond imagination and cannot be ignored: macaques being ridiculed for selfies, treated like worthless objects. This is what happens in one of the main macaque facilities supplying "prestigious" animal testing laboratories across Europe. It is time to put an end to this horrific practice. Legal action is not only necessary but essential to ensure that these atrocities do not continue without accountability.

Valeria Albanese

Primatologist, Head of the Animal-Free Research Department at LAV (Lega Anti Vivisezione)

The pictures obtained inside Camarney strikingly show the actual treatment that animals receive in these premises. Animal experimentation is, by its very nature, an act of cruelty. Some of the practices revealed by these images may be considered commonplace; others go beyond commonly tolerated abuse. In any case, they are unjustifiable and should be recognised for what they really are: physical and psychological abuse and torture inflicted on sentient living beings. In the 21st century, this archaic and obsolete way of approaching science should be unacceptable to us — and the looks on the faces of the macaques in these images should be unbearable. We should not allow this to continue for another minute, for the sake of these animals' suffering and for the dignity of our own species.

Dr. Núria Almiron

Co-director of the UPF Centre for Animal Ethics

Long-tailed macaques are wild animals with highly developed cognitive, emotional and communication skills. They are also very sociable beings that form deep bonds with each other. Confining these animals to a totally artificial environment governed by human rules, which bears no resemblance to the ecosystems to which their abilities are adapted, is a source of confusion and discomfort to them. Locking them up in tiny cages, manipulating them, imposing a way of life that is not their own, causes mental and emotional suffering, as well as fear and stress. The fear and stress experienced by these animals can lead to health problems that distort the results of the scientific studies being conducted on them. These animals belong in their ecosystems, where they perform important ecological functions. Scientific research should be conducted using animal-free methods which are more ethical as well as more effective.

Marta Tafalla

Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, member of the Animal Ethics Centre at Pompeu Fabra University