Plans for Enormous Animal-Breeding Facility for the Experimentation Trade Blocked!
In a huge victory, animal experimentation colossus Charles River Laboratories scrapped its plans to build what would’ve been the largest monkey warehouse in the Western Hemisphere in Brazoria County in the US state of Texas.
Local residents and PETA US supporters were crucial to the abandonment of the plans for the monkey prison, which would’ve had the capacity to cage 43,000 sentient beings. We can’t overstate the significance of this win!
© iStock.com/Olga Arkhipenko
Charles Rivers Laboratories
The company, which is currently under federal investigation in the US for possible violations of monkey-importation laws, also operates in the UK. To put the planned facility into context, 114 monkeys used in experiments were born in Britain in 2023.
The plan would’ve had nearly incalculable repercussions for endangered monkey populations worldwide and risked the spread of disease.
Experiments on Animals
In laboratories, animals can legally be abused in a myriad of ways, including being bled, poisoned, or deprived of food, water, or sleep. They may be subjected to psychological distress or burned, gassed, force-fed toxic substances, electrocuted, deliberately given brain damage, infected with diseases, or paralysed. Ultimately, they are usually killed.
Animal Testing Is Ineffective
The US National Institutes of Health has estimated, “The average time from target discovery to approval of a new drug is about 14 years. The failure rate during this process is more than 95 percent, and the cost per successful drug can be [US]$1 billion or more.” Clearly, there is a problem with the current system for developing and testing drugs and getting them to market, and experiments on animals, including primates, have been identified as one of the contributing factors. These wasteful, costly experiments prolong the suffering of humans waiting for effective cures.
Campaigns Create Change
In 2023, concerned locals alerted PETA US to the scheme, and the group immediately sent out 4,000 letters to inform residents of Brazoria County of the plans. Members of the public turned out in droves to object at a Brazoria County Board of Commissioners meeting, where the panel unanimously recommended that federal authorities axe the proposal.
PETA US also ran a billboard ad in Brazoria and promoted online action alerts to help supporters speak out. The kindness shown by supporters motivated a multibillion-dollar company to drop its cruel plan to cage monkeys and profit from their misery.
It took less than a year of pressure for Charles River to sell off the 539 acres of land and abandon its plans – that’s the power of using our voice.
Please speak out for monkeys to prevent more from being flown to laboratories by irresponsible, cruel airlines:
