Indonesia must stop capturing monkeys for animal experimentation!

On their site, our partner has distributed the reality of the capture of monkeys living in family groups in the wild in Indonesia, carried out on behalf of renewable biofuel laboratories all over the world. The prospect of cruelty and violence inflicted on these animals during their capture, namely the beatings and knife wounds, is unbearable. Such brutal and barbaric treatment is incidentally a violation of the international guidelines on animal welfare (1).

Harrowing scenes reveal the brutality of these captures

The monkeys are captured inside large nets then manually taken by force and often dragged by the tail. Others are pinned to the ground under the trapper’s foot, grabbed by the neck, and lifted with their front limbs forced behind their backs. They are piled up either head-first in bags or with others in wooden crates. The bodies of some are abandoned on site, while the babies are torn from their mothers’ arms, causing huge distress to the detriment of both. Murder is also committed on a dazed male who, after having been almost beaten to death, had his throat slit with a machete. All of this is of the greatest indifference to the men who are doing this as their job.

Indonesia: well-known for the capture of long-tailed macaques

In 2021, the Indonesian government authorised the resumption of capturing and exporting wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) – despite widespread worldwide concerns when it comes to the inherent brutality of this practice (2) and the growing realisation of the vulnerability of this species in conservation plans. Hundreds of wild monkeys have consequently been captured, being torn from their natural environment and from their family, and social groups.

As elsewhere, capturing wild animals is justified by governments and local populations by the supposed inconvenience that the monkeys cause to farmers and residents. In reality, they should tackle the problem at the root, specifically questioning deforestation and food waste disposal which attract monkeys into the villages; because the expansion of human activities and their endless growing encroachment on the natural world tragically lead to negative interactions, which are fully avoidable, between macaques and humans.

France is at the forefront when it comes to primate experimentation in Europe

The monkeys coming from Indonesia are essentially destined to go to China or to the United States (4). The long-tailed macaques are the main non-human primate species used in regulatory toxicology (or poisons) testing, a sector where the majority of non-human primates are exploited. These tests are carried out to evaluate undesirable reactions to medications (or chemical products) and generally entail huge suffering.

«The capture of long-tailed macaques is an outrageous act of violence. Families torn apart, a male looking to defend his family unceremoniously beaten, babies separated from their mothers… How many survive such suffering and stress? And when we know what awaits them in the laboratories… These animals from Indonesia are mainly sent to China and to the United States, but in the European Union, France is the place where most of them die on the laboratory benches, particularly for experimentation which leads to severe pain!»Muriel Arnal, Founding President of One Voice

France is the biggest consumer of monkeys for animal experimentation in the whole of the European Union, and primarily for conducting experiments leading to severe suffering. France is shamefully in first place; we see how the infants are torn from their mothers, these animals on their own land, and when we learn of the legal torture that waits for them after hours or even days of travel, if they don’t die from fear first. In European laboratories there are potentially still some monkeys who have experienced this trauma.

«The capture of non-human primates in the wild unquestionably causes immense suffering for these animals. The way in which they are treated and manipulated, as can be seen in the videos, is brutal and barbaric, and constitutes a clear violation of the international guidelines on animal welfare. Such cruelty – beating and killing alpha males, taking infants away from their mothers, dragging the monkeys by their non-prehensile tails in a way which can cause serious injury to the spinal cord, pinning their front limbs behind their back so violently that they may dislocate or fracture – must not be tolerated. No more trapping wild monkeys. I urge other animal welfare specialists to resolutely oppose the Indonesian authorities and international organisations. »Nedim C. Buyukmihci, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California

We are taking action!

We and Action for Primates are asking the Indonesian government to discontinue the capture and transportation of wild monkeys destined for research and toxicology testing, as well as farms used to export their offspring. We need your help to strengthen this request. We have set out a sample letter that you can adapt and send to the Indonesian embassy to urge their government to stop the capture and exportation of wild monkeys to laboratories.

Letter to be addressed to: Indonesian Embassy in France, 47-49 rue Cortambert, 75116 Paris, France or by email to konsuler.paris@kemlu.go.id.

Download the sample letter

Sign the petition (in English) for the attention of the Indonesian Minister for the Environment

Sign the petition

References

1. International Primatological Society (IPS) (International Guidelines for the Acquisition, Care and Breeding of Non-Human Primates: Methods of Capture): “The capture of primates from the wild is challenging and potentially dangerous for the animals. Inexperienced handling can lead to significant morbidity and mortality for the animals. Methods used to capture and handle primates, which vary widely between species and countries, should always be humane and cause minimal stress. Institutions should ensure that anyone trapping primates is adequately trained and competent in humane methods of capture.” “Capture methods should not render animals, or their troop members, unduly susceptible to injury or death.” (http://www.internationalprimatologicalsociety.org/policy-statements-and-guidelines/)
2. Recognising the challenge of the welfare and health of animals as well as the ethical issues resulting from the capture of non-human primates in the wild, the EU has decided to put an end to its participation in the capture of wild monkeys for scientific or breeding purposes. From 2022, the EU will only authorise the use of non-human primates in research if they come from animals bred in captivity (F2/F2+ generation) and from self-sufficient colonies. (Article 10) (Directive : https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2010/63/oj)
3. In 2020, an assessment of long-tailed macaques carried out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of biological species at international level, re-evaluated their status, henceforth classing them as ‘Vulnerable’. We have seen a decline in their population, which reflects the growing worries regarding the conservation status of the species. Eudey, A., Kumar, A., Singh, M. and Boonratana, R., 2021, Macaca fascicularis (modified version of the 2020 assessment). The 2021 IUCN Red List of Endangered Species: e.T12551A204494260 https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUC…
4. Data submitted to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): https://trade.cites.org/en/cit…

Translated from the French by Joely Justice