Troop of Threatened ‘Monkeys’ From PETA India, FIAPO, and Aashray Foundation to Plead for Protection From Foreign Animal Experimenters and Other Abuse  

For Immediate Release:

26 October 2023

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Atharva Deshmukh; [email protected]

Delhi – Following the recent removal of protections that had been afforded to rhesus macaques for 50 years under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), and the Aashray Foundation will gather on Friday wearing giant monkey masks and brandishing signs to beseech Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reinstate protections that would prevent rhesus macaques from being killed or captured for the experimentation, meat, or pet industries, among other forms of abuse.

When:             Friday, 27 October, 12 noon sharp

Where:           The dharna road at Jantar Mantar, Connaught Place, Sansad Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110001

“Restoring protections for vulnerable rhesus macaques would safeguard animal welfare, local ecosystems, and human health,” says PETA India Science Policy Advisor Dr Anjana Aggarwal. “PETA India is appealing to the prime minister to spare these monkeys suffering and death by taking steps to grant them at least the same level of protection that they were afforded until recently under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.”

In a letter to Prime Minister Modi, PETA India raised concerns over evidence that unscrupulous foreign monkey importers are hoping to pillage India’s rhesus macaque population. Specifically, an office memorandum published by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) on 11 May 2022 highlighted possible attempts by the Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings to export vulnerable live monkeys from India for use in experimentation. In response, the WCCB alerted its field formations to the situation, to prevent the illegal export of primates from India. This development reveals that Indian rhesus macaques face imminent threat.

In addition to being revered in Hinduism, rhesus macaques fulfil an important role in local ecosystems by dispersing seeds – due to their frequent consumption of fruit – and their absence can be detrimental to forests. Monkeys taken from their natural habitats by wildlife dealers are often crammed into small wooden crates and transported in the dark, terrifying cargo holds of planes for as long as 30 hours. The stress of capture and transportation can weaken their immune systems, increasing the risk of spreading zoonotic diseases in India and around the world. In laboratories, monkeys are typically confined – alone – to small metal cages and tormented in experiments in which they’re cut open, poisoned, crippled, forced to become addicted to drugs, electroshocked, and killed.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

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