PETA Asks Canada to Cut Ties with Abusive U.S. Monkey Dealer

Group Calls On Minister of Health to Reconsider Purchase of Primates From Law-Breaking Primate Products

For Immediate Release:
July 16, 2015

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

PETA is calling on Canada Minister of Health Rona Ambrose to review her agency’s recent decision to purchase monkeys from Primate Products, Inc. (PPI)—a notorious Florida monkey dealer that was recently cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for at least 25 serious animal-welfare violations following a disturbing PETA eyewitness investigation.

In a letter sent to Minister Ambrose this morning, PETA describes the USDA citations—based on video and other evidence obtained by PETA—against PPI, which include that monkeys were traumatized by their cagemates, including resulting in the amputation of digits; workers performed procedures on monkeys in filthy conditions and without anesthetics; workers chased and grabbed monkeys, possibly contributing to the animals’ rectal prolapses and injured tails; ripping out monkeys’ teeth by hand; and housing monkeys in below-freezing conditions with no heat, causing them to sustain frostbite.

The USDA’s investigation is ongoing, and members of U.S. Congress have called for a re-evaluation of whether PPI should be eligible for contracts with the U.S. government as a result of its failure to comply with animal-welfare laws. PETA is calling on the Canadian government to do the same.

“The Canadian government should not be doing business with a company like Primate Products that has physically and psychologically abused monkeys and fatally neglected them in violation of the law,” says Canadian citizen and PETA Senior Laboratory Oversight Specialist Dr. Alka Chandna.

In 2014, PPI imported 1,000 monkeys from China and Mauritius to the U.S.—63 percent of whom were captured in the wild.

PETA’s letter to Minister Ambrose is available upon request. For more information about this PETA eyewitness investigation, please click here.