Animals

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/MAURITIUS_VIVISECTION_TRADE/

HELP STOP THE VIVISECTION PRIMATE TRADE IN MAURITIUS

Animal Rights Africa (ARA) needs your support to force Mauritius out of the primate trade. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection have exposed the Mauritian trade in monkeys for research purposes. The majority of primate research is conducted on two kinds of macaques: rhesus and cynomolgus. They are used in a variety of research, including studies of AIDS, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and tuberculosis. Mauritius is the second largest (after China) exporter of primates for vivisection experiments.

Mauritius supplies macaques to Huntingdon Life Sciences, Covance, Charles Rivers Laboratories (CRL) and many other major vivisection companies around the world. CRL is the world's largest provider of animals to laboratories. The company's annual reports do not name clients, but scientific journals and some U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings indicate that Charles River has provided monkeys to Eli Lilly, Merck and Wyeth.

Some 10,000 macaque monkeys were exported in 2006 to the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan to be used in medical research. The business of capturing, breeding and exporting monkeys brought more than $20 million to Mauritius in 2006 [according to the country's agro-industry minister, Arvin Boolell] and about $6.8 million was made from the trade between January and May in 2007. (Source: Comtex New Report 11 October 2007).

The monkeys are captured from the wild between September and December when food is scare. There are two companies involved in the primate trade in Mauritius, Noveprim/CRP and Bioculture. Both companies are based in southern Mauritius and both claim to breed from the monkeys they capture. They exploit the fact that the monkeys are not indigenous to Mauritius. The monkeys were introduced to the island between the 16th and the 17th centuries, at which time they were probably brought from the Indonesian peninsula by Dutch sailors.

Noveprim/CRP has been operating for 17 years. Monkeys from Mauritius are often sent to Noveprim/CRP in Camarles, Spain). In Mauritius they have approximately 7,500 monkeys in about 150 enclosures. The company is among those known to trap wild primates to supplement supply or provide breeding stock. Bioculture is owned by Australian-born zoologist Owen Griffiths. Griffiths is also co-owner of BFC, a monkey breeding and export form in Israel. In 1989, Charles River contracted with Bioculture Mauritius. In 1997 Bioculture agreed to make available to Charles Rivers at least 5,000 monkeys per year. Based on their age, weight and health, Charles River would pay between $540 and $1,300 per monkey. Charles River also agreed to "promote [Bioculture] as a supplier in its marketing efforts, including trade show exhibits."

Things You Can Do:
• Sign this petition to demand Mauritius to stop the primate trade
• As a tourist boycott Mauritius
• Write to the Mauritian Prime Minister Dr The Honourable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, asking him to put a stop to medical research on primates by ending their exportation and introducing protective legislation. Macaque monkeys have shown impressive intellectual abilities. These highly sensitive animals will suffer unimaginable physical abuse and psychological torment in laboratories around the world. They will be caged and deprived of fresh air, sunshine, freedom of movement, the companionship of others and just about everything else that makes any life worth living." Post your letter to: Prime Minister's Office, New Treasury Building, Intendance Street, Port Louis, Mauritius or email him on: primeminister@mail.gov.mu

Sign the petition

 http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/MAURITIUS_VIVISECTION_TRADE/