PETA Statement re Subpoena From Lawyers for Cambodian Official Indicted for Smuggling Monkeys

For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo regarding the subpoena that PETA just received from the attorneys representing Cambodian government official Masphal Kry, who will go on trial next week for his role in an alleged monkey-laundering ring that supplied primates to U.S. laboratories:

PETA was surprised to receive a subpoena from Masphal Kry’s attorneys, demanding our communications and documents related to the extensive work that we continue to do to expose the cruel, violent, and deadly international trade in monkeys for use in experimentation. We had no role in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s five-year investigation or the U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecution. We’re watching this trial closely, as we believe it will expose the dirty underbelly of a monkey-trafficking scheme that has meant misery and death for tens of thousands of monkeys, but we don’t have what Kry’s attorneys are looking for.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.