PHOTOS: ‘Dying Monkey’ Begs Russia Not to Send Primates to Mars

A striking protest outside the Russian Embassy in London today urged Russia’s space agency to abandon its unethical “monkeys on Mars” mission.

Russia’s plans involve sending four macaques to the red planet in 2017. These animals will already have endured years of gruelling experiments in laboratories when they’re dispatched on a terrifying voyage into the unknown, from which they’re unlikely ever to return.

As the protesters – among them adult-film star Samantha Bentley, who was bodypainted as a monkey and lay in a pool of “blood” – pointed out, this misguided project represents a return to the darkest days of the Space Race: a time when primates died horrifically from suffocation, overheating and impact.

To be a true pioneer in modern-day space exploration, Russia should instead use cutting-edge non-animal technology, as NASA, the European Space Agency and others do.

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Sign the petition urging the Russian space agency to cancel its planned experiment and instead send the four monkeys to a sanctuary, where they can live out the rest of their lives in peace.