For four months in 2016, a Last Chance for Animals (LCA) investigator worked at International Toxicology Research Canada (ITR), located in Baie d’Urfe, Quebec (a suburb of Montreal), and documented numerous violations of provincial regulations covering the humane treatment of animals.

One of these victims was Grace, a young macaque monkey who turned in endless circles in her cage. and had patches of fur missing from her skin, both signs of severe stress caused by confinement and a lack of any stimulation or socialization with other animals.

When LCA’s investigator pointed these symptoms out to an ITR employee responsible for the animal’s’ daily care, they were instructed not to record Grace’s condition, blatantly disregarding guidelines for the daily assessment of animals in laboratories, which require the measuring of behavioral well-being indicators.

Grace was treated as nothing more than another piece of lab equipment -- but she isn’t. She is a young animal who will be kept alive for years, maybe even decades, her body used in study after study as she suffers the painful effects of the toxins that she is forced to consume, and the isolation, fear, and constant stress that life in a laboratory will mean for her. No animal deserves this treatment.

Sadly, Grace was just one of many victims at ITR. LCA’s investigation also reveals:

• Animals thrown, slammed, suspended by their ears or limbs, and struck in the face

• Animals subject to painful and distressing procedures in full view of other animals (in violation of Canada Council on Animal Care guidelines)

• Beagles and macaques denied any chance of socialization with humans or other animals, and further denied any opportunity to exercise, in some instances for the duration of a nine-month study (at the end of which the animals were killed)

• Inadequate housing with no appropriate areas to rest, in which animals were exposed to constant loud noises and harmful levels of gasses due to the build-up of urine and feces behind the animals’ cages; and where animals risked being caught in the wire grilling of their cages

• An anecdotal instance of a macaque monkey left unsupervised while restrained in an inhalation device, and subsequently suffocating to death
 

These abuses often happened in full view of supervisors, who made no effort to prevent further abuse or to correct systematic neglect of the animals.

LCA has submitted evidence in official complaints to Le ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ), Le ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs (MFFP),  Ministère de l'Énergie et des Ressources naturelles (MERN) and is demanding enforcement for:

Demand justice for Grace and for all of the animals documented during LCA’s investigation. Sign to urge authorities to prosecute ITR and all individuals responsible for this horrific abuse!