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Campaign to Stop the construction of a primate breeding facility in Puerto Rico for RESEARCH!
  1. Signatures
    866 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Puerto Rico Governor (+ 2 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Puerto Rico Governor (Luis G. Fortuño La Fortaleza)
      • Oficina de Plan de Orden Territorial (Hon. Glorimari Jaime)
      • U.S. Congressman (Congressman Pedro Pierluisi)
  2. Created By
    r s
    holmen, WI
About this Petition Petition Letter











International campaign to stop the construction of a primate breeding facility in Puerto Rico

Please support the international campaign to stop the building of a primate breeding facility in Guayama City in Puerto Rico. There is already local opposition to this construction and we want to offer our support by launching an international effort to stop Puerto Rico from becoming a major player in the cruel trade in primates for research. We understand that the project is being led by Bioculture, a primate supply company from Mauritius that ships long-tailed macaques around the world to be used in research.


Such a proposal is highly controversial and is a major step backwards at a time when the ethical and scientific use of nonhuman primates in research is being challenged internationally by scientists as well as others.


Primates are highly intelligent, social animals with complex behavioral and psychological needs. The cruelty and suffering involved in the international trade in primates for research has been well documented; in particular, the injuries and mortalities involved in the capture of monkeys from the wild and the stress and suffering involved in their confinement in captivity. The common fate of many primates in the research industry is to be used in toxicity testing which involves the forced ingestion, inhalation or injection of potentially lethal and poisonous chemicals.


Please help by writing to the following people calling on them to dissociate Puerto Rico from the suffering and cruelty inherent in the trade in primates for research. If the construction is allowed to go ahead then this will not only result in the suffering of thousands of monkeys, it will also have a negative and detrimental impact on Puerto Rico's image abroad.

Recent Signatures

Stop the construction of a primate breeding facility in Puerto Rico

Dear Sir / Madame

I am writing to express my concern over recent reports that there are plans to build a primate breeding and supply facility in Guayama City. I understand that the project is being led by a company called Bioculture from Mauritius and that the monkeys, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), will be imported from Mauritius. These monkeys and/or their offspring will be shipped overseas to be used in research.</p>


<p>Such a proposal is a major step backwards at a time when the ethical and scientific use of nonhuman primates in research is being challenged internationally by scientists as well as others.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Primates are highly intelligent, social animals with complex behavioral and psychological needs. Their use in research raises serious ethical and scientific questions. Perhaps you are unaware of the common fate of primates in the research industry. These animals are likely to be subjected to pain and suffering, sometimes extreme, in the research laboratories to which they are shipped. For example, many of them will be used in toxicity testing which involves the forced ingestion, inhalation or injection of poisonous chemicals. After sometimes years of this type of abuse, the animals are then killed. Although there is controversy about this, many scientists agree that this type of testing and killing of these primates is unnecessary scientifically and is morally unacceptable.</p>


<p>At a time when the ethics regarding the use of primates in research is being raised internationally, it is disheartening to learn that Puerto Rico is planning to allow itself to become a major player in the supply of primates for research. Such a move will not only result in the suffering of thousands of monkeys, it will also have a negative and detrimental impact on Puerto Rico&rsquo;s image abroad.</p>


<p>I look forward to hearing from you.</p>


<p>Yours sincerely</p>


<p>&nbsp;

[Your name]

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