NASA Kills 27 Monkeys Used In Its Animal Testing, Instead of Retiring Them To Sanctuary

Jan 10

Animal experts blast the NASA research centre in California for not even giving the monkeys “a chance at sanctuary life”, after the primates were held captive for years in a laboratory.

Monkeys huddled together at a macaque breeding facility in Asia, where the primates are bred and exported to animal testing companies around the world. Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

NASA killed every monkey in its care on a single day in 2019, despite increased calls for animals used in lab experiments to be given a chance at a “retirement”.

NASA’s Amers research center in Silicon Valley, California, held captive a total of 27 primates. Tragically, the space company made the decision to euthanize every single one of the monkeys on February 2 in 2019, according to documents released under freedom of information laws, reports The Guardian.

The primates “were suffering the ethological deprivations and frustrations inherent in laboratory life”, John Gluck, an expert in animal ethics at the University of New Mexico told the news platform. Gluck criticized NASA, denouncing how the monkeys were “apparently not considered worthy of a chance at a sanctuary life. Not even a try? Disposal instead of the expression of simple decency. Shame on those responsible.”

Meanwhile US House representative Kathleen Rice has written to NASA directly to demand why the tragic deaths were allowed to happen.

“I look forward to an explanation from [NASA] administrator Bridenstine on why these animals were forced to waste away in captivity and be euthanized rather than live out their lives in a sanctuary,” Rice explained.

The monkeys are part of America’s outdated and controversial practise of using animals in laboratory tests. Each year, more than 25 million animals - including monkeys, dogs, cats, horses, and guinea pigs - are used in experiments in the US alone. These animals face little-to-no protection: under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) - the law that governs the use of animals in laboratories - animals can be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged. For 95 percent of the animals used in laboratories, painkillers are not required, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Despite the horrific cruelty involved and the low success rate, the US government continues to spend more than $15 billion on animal testing - meaning millions of tax-payer funds are spent on cruel animal experiments each year. In a recent and particularly startling case, US taxpayer dollars were spent on buying cats and dogs from wet markets in China to use in experiments back in the US. Similarly, it was revealed that US taxpayer dollars were given as a multi-million dollar grant to the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) - the lab that has been linked to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more on how campaigners are working to change the system and stop animal tests: listen to our podcast episode “Tax Payer Funded Torture” with Justin Goodman of The White Coat Waste Project here.

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