AR-News: (Nepal) Protesting against agreement to breed rhesus monkeys for US labs

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> 
>KATHMANDU, Feb 2 (OneWorld) - Animal rights activists are protesting 
>against an agreement between the Nepalese government and local 
>nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Natural History Society of 
>Nepal (NHSN), to breed thousands of rhesus monkeys, allegedly for 
>supply to US laboratories. 
> 
>According to the letter of intent, the government will deliver 150 
>monkeys to the US as soon as NHSN establishes basic infrastructure to 
>breed them. Along with monkeys, the government has already permitted 
>another NGO to begin the commercial breeding of snakes. 
> 
>Activists say the US annually requires over 14,000 monkeys for 
>research. They have demanded an immediate halt to the breeding and 
>capture of animals for export. 
> 
>"This is not a conservation effort that will benefit the local 
>community or bio-diversity. This kind of breeding is purely for 
>bio-medical research where our monkeys undergo enormous suffering as 
>they are observed for physical and psychological responses to 
>untested 
>drugs," protests Prahlad Yonzon, the president of Resources Himalaya, 
>an NGO working to promote wildlife conservation. 
> 
>A slew of protests are pouring in from across the world. "We have 
>received more than 300 petitions which we will hand over to the 
>Nepalese prime minister and the minister for Forests and Soil 
>Conservation," says Lucia de Vries, a Kathmandu-based Belgian 
>journalist who is mobilizing animal rights groups in Nepal and 
>abroad. 
> 
>De Vries believes money is the only motivation. "The government can 
>earn up to US $300 per monkey for sale to American labs. We should 
>not 
>allow Nepalese monkeys to die a slow and painful death there just for 
>the sake of enriching a few," she says. 
> 
>Another key ally in the Save-the-Monkeys-Campaign is the 
>International 
>Primate Protection League (IPPL), which has posted an appeal on its 
>site (www.ippl.org) to protest the plans to exploit Nepal's primates. 
>It has also requested the Nepalese government to prevent 
>monkey-breeding labs from being set up. 
> 
>Animal rights activists express concern that Nepal's decision will 
>open the floodgates to export Nepalese monkeys and other animals to 
>countries like Japan and Germany, for medical research. 
> 
>The decision comes at a time when research institutions are 
>increasingly finding alternatives to the use of non-human primates in 
>research, which is why a growing number of countries have banned such 
>research. 
> 
>De Vries, who is also involved with the Society for Prevention of 
>Cruelty to Animals/Nepal, alleges that the US is looking for lab 
>monkeys to conduct bio-terrorism experiments. 
> 
>Reportedly, the West is scouring jungles in countries with weak 
>legislation and a willingness to sacrifice their precious wildlife, 
>such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and, lately, Nepal. 
> 
>NHNS expert Mukesh Chalise disagrees, "This is just propaganda by 
>certain vested interests. We applied to the ministry in accordance 
>with Nepal's rules and regulations. "Our intention is not to send our 
>monkeys to death but to use them for human benefits." 
> 
>Government officials defend the agreement, saying it is in accordance 
>with Nepal's recent Working Policy on Wildlife Farming, Breeding and 
>Research 2003. The policy stipulates that the government can permit 
>breeding of endangered species and other common species for 
>commercial 
>purposes. 
> 
>"There are clear guidelines for breeding," says a senior official at 
>the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. 
> 
>Rhesus monkeys have lived alongside humans for centuries. Of late, 
>they have come into conflict with humans, leading to the trapping and 
>killing of more than 1,000 monkeys by farmers last year. 
> 
>"But you cannot justify exporting monkeys on the ground that they are 
>destroying crops. People who live alongside monkeys have come to 
>terms 
>with them," says Yonzon. 
> 
>Rhesus macaques are preferred subjects for biomedical and behavioral 
>research primarily because of their willingness to breed in 
>captivity. 
>But often monkeys are caged in solitary confinement and develop 
>self-injurious habits such as biting their own bodies, hair-pulling, 
>and repetitive motions. 
> 
>Monkeys and snakes aren't the only animals under threat. Ministry of 
>Forest and Soil Conservation spokesperson Mohan Prasad Wagle says the 
>government will facilitate the commercial breeding of other wildlife 
>species like crocodiles, black bucks, pheasants, barking deer, 
>spotted 
>deer, sambar deer, hog deer and various kinds of birds. 
> 
>After issuing permission, the government will provide seed animals to 
>firms which will commercially exploit them. There are different price 
>tags for different animals, ranging from US$ 80 for all kinds of 
>birds 
>to US$ 500 for crocodiles. 
> 
>This isn't the first time the Nepal government has landed itself in 
>controversy. Following vehement criticism from different 
>environmental 
>and animal rights groups, it had cancelled a similar proposal two 
>years ago. 
> 
>The monkey is widely worshipped by Hindus as a devotee of Lord Ram. 
>Along with Hindus, Nepal's large population of mountain people, who 
>recently celebrated their new year, have declared 2004 the Year of 
>the 
>Monkey. 
> 
>Nepal's neighbor India banned the export of rhesus monkeys in 1977. 
>China is the biggest exporter of monkeys for bio-medical research, 
>while the US is the biggest importer of primates. 
> 
>"The division of international programs of the Washington National 
>Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) was established in 1999 to help 
>direct, strengthen, and expand the Center's international 
>collaborations. The WaNPRC currently supports two long-standing 
>international programs in Indonesia and Russia and a third, recently 
>established in Nepal," says De Vries. 
> 
>Its Nepal program was formally established in 2001 in collaboration 
>with NHSN in Kathmandu. This program will support the breeding of 
>rhesus monkeys and facilitate collaborative research and 
>educational/training opportunities for Nepalese students and 
>researchers, and assist with primate conservation efforts in Nepal. 
> 
>The IPPL reveals that the trade has increased greatly in recent 
>years. 
>In 1995, 9,158 primates were imported to the US.; in 2002 the figure 
>was 18,856, an increase of 106 per cent. 
> 
>Crab-eating macaques from Asia are by far the most heavily traded 
>monkeys, followed by rhesus and squirrel monkeys. 
_
>************************************ 
>People For Animals, Bangalore 
>Survey No 67, Uttarahalli Rd, 
>Kengeri, Bangalore-560060 

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