Burger is experimenten op dieren spuugzat! 09-03-2010 St. Anti Dierproeven Coalitie
Afgelopen zaterdag werden zo'n 805 handtekeningen opgehaald in het drukke centrum van Leiden. Op verschillende plekken in de stad werden mensen aangesproken om ons burgerinitiatief te ondertekenen.
De stoepborden met foto's van honden en katten in laboratoria bleken weer ontzettend veel mensen aan te spreken. De dierproefsector voert al jaren een campagne waarin zij stelt dat er 'enkel op muizen en ratten' getest wordt en dat andere dieren slechts een klein percentage van alle dierproeven vormen. Deze uitgekiende strategie is opgezet om wanhopig een draagvlak te vinden voor de onethische experimenten op dieren.
De meeste mensen die wij spreken vinden dat dierproeven sowieso niet plaats mogen vinden in een beschaafde samenleving. Of het nu een muis of een aap is. De Anti Dierproeven Coalitie vindt dan ook dat dieren geen gebruiksvoorwerpen zijn en zal altijd een stem zijn voor alle dieren in de laboratoria.
De dierproefsector houdt keer op keer vol dat dieren een goed leven leiden in laboratoria. Maar hoe kan deze sector het volgende verklaren?
* Het nodeloos afmaken van honderdduizenden dieren die nooit gebruikt zijn in experimenten.
* Het moedwillig ziek maken van gezonde en soms zwangere dieren.
* Giftigheidstesten op dieren zonder verdoving want dat is 'in strijd met de opzet van de proef.'
* Het gebruik van dieren in pijnlijke hersenexperimenten.
* Commerciële dierproeven om een product te kunnen aanprijzen als een verantwoord product, zoals Danone en Yakult veelvuldig doen.
* Gebruik van dieren die tientallen uren in een krat opgesloten hebben gezeten in het ruim van een vliegtuig om vervolgens in Nederland of België gebruikt te worden in experimenten.
* Het uitvoeren van vergelijkbare proeven op dieren die ook in andere landen worden uitgevoerd.
* Het negeren van dierproefvrije technieken en het krampachtig vast blijven houden aan verouderde onderzoeksmethoden op dieren.
Deze misdaden tegen onschuldige dieren kunnen enkel gestopt worden door breedgedragen maatschappelijke druk. De Anti Dierproeven Coalitie loopt voorop in de strijd voor een dierproefvrije maatschappij. Het burgerinitiatief kan rekenen op de steun van velen.
Tot nu toe hebben al 36.635 mensen het burgerinitiatief getekend. We naderen de benodigde 40.000 handtekeningen. Nog tot 9 september dit jaar is het mogelijk om ons burgerinitiatief voor een einde van honden- en kattenexperimenten te ondertekenen.
HARICH - Om te voorkomen dat dassen worden doodgereden, zullen er onder de wegen meer loopbuizen moeten worden aangebracht. Boswachter Sjoerd Bakker van Staatbosbeheer in Zuidwest-Friesland pleit hiervoor bij de wegbeherende overheden.
De laatste twee dagen zijn alleen al in de Zuidwesthoek drie overstekende dassen in het verkeer omgekomen. Vorig jaar zijn in Gaasterland en omgeving acht exemplaren door auto's dodelijk aangereden. De enkele dassenbuizen die in deze regio bestaan, voldoen uitstekend. ,,It binne der net genôch. Der moatte mear komme”, zegt Bakker.
Dassen behoren in Friesland niet meer tot de bedreigde diersoorten. In de jaren negentig zijn ze hier uitgezet en is hun aantal gestaag toegenomen. In Gaasterland zijn de laatste keer 120 dieren geteld.
VLIELAND - Op Vlieland lopen mogelijk nog vier vossen rond, denken de jagers op het eiland. Staatsbosbeheer houdt het op ,,minstens één”.
Afgelopen weekend werden jachthonden ingezet om Vlieland voor de start van het broedseizoen vosvrij te krijgen.
Er werden sporen aangetroffen en een lege vossenburcht. Ook kregen de jagers eenmaal een vos in het vizier, maar het dier ontkwam. Tot nu toe zijn er negen dieren gedood. Vlieland heeft sinds vorig voorjaar een ongewenste vossenpopulatie.
LIEROP - Bij een varkenshouderij aan de Lungendonk in het Brabantse Lierop is dinsdagochtend om half negen een grote controle gestart.
Veertig medewerkers van politie, provincie, gemeente, arbeidsinspectie en het waterschap zijn het bedrijf binnengevallen. Dat heeft een woordvoerster van de politie laten weten.
De varkenshouderij met 8500 varkens wordt verdacht van het overtreden van de milieuvoorschriften. Ook zou er gerommeld zijn met de mestverwerking.
Het is niet bekend wanneer de inspectie wordt afgerond.
09-03-2010 By Bo Petersen, The Post and Courier, USA
A pygmy sperm whale and four dolphins have washed up along the coast in the past week. But the animals were found so far apart that wildlife biologists don't think the strandings are related.
Photo by Lloyd Mackall The pygmy sperm whale that washed up on North Litchfield Beach on Saturday had a heart condition and liver trouble, according to the results of a necropsy.
The whale was discovered Saturday at North Litchfield Beach; the dolphins have been seen since Thursday. One of the dolphins was found at Abbapoola Creek off the Stono River on Johns Island, another in Bull's Bay off Awendaw. The other two were found on Hilton Head Island and near Lemon Island outside Beaufort.
The run of strandings is unusual but not alarming yet, said Wayne McFee, of the National Ocean Service's marine mammal stranding program. Strandings of both species are seen year round.
"The fact that they're spread out around the state, it could be just that good weather has put people back on the water and they're spotting them," McFee said. But program personnel are watching to see if it becomes a trend.
A necropsy on the whale found a heart condition and liver trouble, and toxicology tests are under way to see if a cause can be pinpointed.
No results were available yet on the dolphins, but the mammals have been found to carry startling amounts of man-made pollutants as well as natural viruses.
Not a lot is known about pygmy sperm whales. They're not considered endangered, but they're rarely seen at sea. Strandings of the small whales are not uncommon, with as many as four or five per year in South Carolina. Natural toxins and man-made pollutants have been identified as causes.
A nursing mother and her calf were found on Sullivan's Island in June 2009. The mother had swallowed a black plastic trash bag and died of starvation. The calf couldn't live without her.
The 10-foot-long, 1,100 pound male was found rolling in the incoming tide by Litchfield beachgoers.
"It's very sad," said Lloyd Mackall, of Murrells Inlet, who photographed the stranding with his wife, Kay. "You know it's nature and that it's inevitable something will happen. But it's sad."
People are being to avoid snakes after a woman aged in her 40s became the eighth victim in six days to be bitten in NSW.
An unidentified snake sank its fangs into the woman's foot, leaving two puncture wounds, in the lower Blue Mountains on Tuesday afternoon.
The attack came after a 35-year-old male snake handler was bitten on the nose and forehead by a deadly brown snake in the NSW Hunter Valley earlier on Tuesday. He was taken to Muswellbrook hospital in a serious but stable condition and later transferred by the Westpac helicopter to the Mater hospital in Newcastle.
The victim from the lower Blue Mountains was taken to Nepean Hospital in a serious but stable condition. Her wounds would be tested and a suitable anti-venom administered, a NSW Ambulance spokesman told AAP.
On March 4 a two-year-old girl was bitten by a potentially deadly red-bellied black snake in Badgerys Creek, in Sydney's west.
Five other people were bitten in various locations in NSW on March 7.
Warm weather combined with recent rain has brought the snakes out, a spokesman for Sydney's Taronga Zoo said.
But bolder people sometimes try and handle snakes they come across, he added.
"The warm weather means its peak snake season and the bit of rain we've had brings out other animals which the snakes eat," the spokesman told AAP. "Most of the incidents occur when the snakes feel cornered. But some people do try and handle them. "Our advice is to give them a wide berth where possible."
The ambulance spokesman advised snake bite victims to remain still to prevent venom being pumped through the lymphatic system, apply a pressure bandage and dial triple 000.
What happens to all those chimps who've endured hell for our benefit? The lucky few get to retire to their own private island in Florida.
09-03-2010 AlterNet
It's a stunning day in Fort Pierce, Florida, just north of Miami. Sunshine has nudged out the winter cold and there's green grass and blue sky as far as you can see. Only the words "Careful -- she's going to spit!" interrupt the postcard moment.
Just as Triana Romero says those words, Tammy does as predicted (neither of us gets hit). Romero, director of communications for Save the Chimps, clearly knows Tammy, a 20-something chimpanzee, well enough to spot a spit-face when she sees one. Tammy is being silly, Romero says, and Tammy goes on being silly by blowing a stream of Bronx cheers that would impress even South Park's Terrance and Phillip.
Considering Tammy's background her silliness is pretty impressive. When the U.S. Air Force decided to stop doing chimp research, the apes and their progeny (deemed "surplus equipment") were sent either to the Texas sanctuary Primarily Primates or to the Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo, New Mexico, a biomedical lab with an abysmal record of animal care.
Here's what Encyclopedia Britanica's Animal Advocacy blog page says about Coulston:
The conditions were horrendous: animals were confined in concrete and steel cages for years; the laboratory conducted unapproved research methods; and basic animal welfare protocols were disregarded. Three chimpanzees died in October 1993 when a malfunctioning space heater sent temperatures in their room soaring to 140 °F. In just eight years, 35 chimpanzees and 13 monkeys died as the result of experimentation, poor veterinary care, and preventable diseases. Many independent government bodies investigated and found that the Coulston Foundation had repeatedly violated federal regulations, including the Animal Welfare Act, but enforcement of the laws was poor, and fines, though levied, were not collected....
In reaction to the Air Force's decision to divest itself of chimps, primatologist Carole Noon founded Save the Chimps in 1997 and eventually sued the Air Force on the behalf of the Coulston chimps, counting Dr. Jane Goodall (who sits on STC's advisory council) among her supporters. They settled out of court and 21 of the chimps were en route to Florida by 2001. Tammy was one of them.
Today 187 chimpanzees call this sprawling property, with its platforms, swings, hammocks, and most importantly other chimps, their home.
"This is where it all began," says Romero of a small, white house on the edge of the sanctuary where Dr. Noon lived. With a grant from the Arcus Foundation, (which also funded the Fort Pierce property) Save the Chimps also bought the Coulston property and the 266 chimps that came with it in 2002, making Save the Chimps the largest sanctuary in the world. STC transformed the grim enclosures in New Mexico into a more spacious, colorful and connected environment. They hope to transfer all the chimps from there to the Florida location by 2011.
Dr. Noon died of pancreatic cancer last year but her legacy is an inspirational feat of engineering and empathy. Situated on 150 acres of former orange grove, the sanctuary is divided into 12 islands, each with family groups of up to 25 chimps. The islands are separated by lakes (chimps can't swim), so there's no need for bars and just enough fencing to go from the water to their hurricane-proof shelters -- each island has one, with interconnected cages; the chimps can go outside any time except for brief daily maintenance intervals.
How do they know they're hurricane-proof? "If they're chimp-proof, they're hurricane-proof," says Romero, referring to the chimps' massive strength, seven times that of a human being (the staff has no direct contact with the animals, except for vet care).
It's impossible to think of that and not consider the recent tragedies involving wild animals in captivity. Last year Travis, a full-grown pet chimpanzee mauled his owner's friend and recently Tilikum, a killer whale at Sea World in Orlando attacked and killed trainer Dawn Brancheau.
Such events naturally raise the issue of keeping wild creatures as entertainers, pet or research subjects.
The United States is the only country in the world that federally funds medical research on chimps, a practice that might end with the Great Ape Protection Act, which was re-introduced to Congress in March of 2009. The legislation would release about 500 government-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries and ban the breeding of chimps for research.
On March 5 the Humane Society of the United States announced the launch of a confidential whistleblower hotline so employees at the seven chimp research labs in the US (or other animal research facilities) can report alleged abuses by calling the confidential hotline at 1-866-293-HSUS.
The hotline comes a year after HSUS released the results of an undercover investigation into the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana showing numerous examples of inhumane treatment, including horrible instances caught on video and aired by ABC News Nightline (shown here on Examiner.com).The HSUS website also says that “At any given time, about 80 percent to 90 percent of chimpanzees in laboratories are not used in research, but simply warehoused at taxpayer expense.”
Freeing captive animals, though, isn't as easy as sliding a door open. Jen Feuerstein, sanctuary director of Save the Chimps (which is a sanctuary and not an advocacy group) is an expert at helping apes from labs, entertainment and the pet trade assimilate into a natural environment, a process that can take up to a year for each individual.
Feuerstein, working closely with the staff, is the one who ultimately decides which chimps will mesh well, thus easing the socialization process. One of her favorite stories is about Alice, who lived with five other female chimpanzees in New Mexico. The other chimps had been kind to her but sometimes Alice would "scream for no reason..she would pull at her feet and hands...she never smiled. She didn't want to go outside."
According to Alice's profile she was isolated as a toddler and spent 12 years being used as a research subject. It was decided to help her integrate into the larger group by introducing her to Pam and Elway, two of the sanctuary's youngest inhabitants. Alice was intimidated by the playful babies at first, but one day the staff heard a new sound that threw everyone for a loop: Alice was laughing. (A chimpanzee laugh is an almost-silent heeheehee, kind of like panting; we hear it a couple of times during our visit.)
Alice is no longer intimidated by other chimps; in fact, she grew "stroppy" in Dr. Noon's words, and her group is even named for her. "She became who she was meant to be," Feuerstein says. Retirement to Florida isn't a cheap prospect for anyone and Save the Chimps relies exclusively on private funding; the sanctuary's food bill alone (including 600 bananas a day) is $450,000 annually. There's also vet care (including contraception), a 77-member staff and transportation: it costs $25,000 to migrate a trailer full of 10 chimps to Florida.
The result, though, is well worth the cost. These animals who have spent their lives serving humanity are retired to a life that's good as captivity gets. (Born or raised in captivity the chimps can never be released into the wild because they lack the necessary survival skills.) Some of them haven't felt grass beneath their feet in 40 years. Some stay on their concrete patios for two weeks before they are emotionally capable of venturing out into open spaces.
Ron, a 34-year-old male, was used in spinal studies in which a healthy disc was removed from his spine and replaced with a prosthetic that was eventually removed as well, leaving him a disc short. Romero says he is curious, mellow and loves people, his background evidently not causing him to see all people as threats. "I don't know a lot of humans who would be that forgiving," she says.
By the end of our visit we've seen the paintings these bright, engaged chimps do for enrichment, saw one chimp lounging in the sun, arms and legs spread, the most relaxed creature I’ve ever seen, and finally there’s Sophie. She runs up carrying an orangutan doll which she takes everywhere, like Linus with his blanket. Romero asks if she’s enjoying the sun and she nods. And I nod. Then Sophie shakes her head no. I copy. She has me engaged in "monkey see, monkey do," and I’m the monkey. I’m so smitten that it’s hard to leave. But their peaceful retirement is why it’s a sanctuary and not open to the public. Whether it’s tigers, whales or chimpanzees, Romero puts the question of captivity in an elegant nutshell, saying simply "They’re not for us."
Giant panda, Tai Shan, will soon get to meet the Chinese public. The giant panda raised at the Washington D.C. zoo is now living in Sichuan and learning Chinese.
Animal agencies rescued 90 dogs and other animals that officials said suffered several infections while being housed at an alleged "puppy mill" in South Jersey.
Every dog owner in the UK would have to take out insurance against their pet attacking someone under government proposals to tackle dangerous breeds.
Police and local councils could also get new powers to force the owners of dangerous dogs to muzzle them or even get them neutered.
Ministers say they are responding to public concern about vicious dogs being used to intimidate or threaten people. Each week, more than 100 people are admitted to hospital after dog attacks.
There has also been a reported rise in levels of dog fighting and illegal ownership, particularly by gangs who are using dangerous dogs as status symbols.
The government wants to amend the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, under which four types of dogs - the pit bull terrier, the Japanese tosa, the dogo Argentinos and the fila brasileiros - are banned.
It wants to tweak the law so that the breeds are banned from people's homes - rather than simply from public property, as is currently the case.
'Fundamental right'
It is argued that this will also protect postal workers, telecoms engineers and other people whose work often takes them onto private land.
Another proposal is to introduce compulsory third-party insurance for dog owners to ensure victims of attacks are compensated.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: "Britain is a nation of animal lovers, but people have a fundamental right to feel safe on the streets and in their homes. "The vast majority of dog owners are responsible, but there is no doubt that some people breed and keep dogs for the soul purpose of intimidating others, in a sense using dogs as a weapon. "It is this sort of behaviour that we will not tolerate; it is this sort of behaviour that we are determined to stop."
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "There is a lot of public concern about dog attacks, including the recent tragic deaths of young children, and about the rise in the number of so-called 'status dogs' used to intimidate or threaten people. "This is a serious issue of public safety. The government wants to hear what people think about the law as it stands and what more we might do to protect people from dangerous dogs."
Postal unions welcomed the move as "long overdue".
"Thousands of our members are attacked at work every year," said Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU. "This reform cannot come soon enough."
The RSPCA said a serious debate on the issue was needed, concentrating on curbing irresponsible pet ownership.
"There is a real need for updated legislation that enables enforcers to tackle the problem effectively and prevent serious incidents from occurring rather than waiting till after a tragedy or penalising certain dogs just because of their breed or type," Claire Robinson, the charity's government relations manager said.
The Dangerous Dogs Act, passed by Parliament in 1991 after a spate of attacks, brought in destruction orders for banned dogs.
In 1997, another parliamentary act amended the law, removing the compulsory destruction orders and giving courts discretion over this and over sentencing of owners.
Burmese army units from Butheetaung and Maungdaw townships in Arakan State are reportedly capturing and killing wild elephants and illegally exporting ivory to China, according to an Arakan environmental and human rights organization.
The rounding up of wild elephants is occurring in conjunction with a search for a white elephant, say environmentalists.
Khaing Htun Lin of the Bangladesh-based Arakan Environment Preservation and Human Rights Watch told The Irrawaddy that Capt Aung Thura Heing of Light Infantry Battalion (354), Captain Hein Khant of Infantry Battalion (263) and Pe Than of the Butheetaung 5 Mile Elephant Camp have worked on the project, which began in January.
“As far as we know, more than 10 wild elephants have been captured since the beginning of this year,” said Khaing Htun Lin. “We estimate that at least 500 elephants has been caught this decade. The army cuts ivory from some elephants and, together with businessmen, it is exported to China.”
Sonny, a trader in the Arakan border area, said a kilogram of elephant ivory is worth 1,500,000 kyat (US $1,538) in market price. “Elephant ivory is very expensive,” Sonny said. “The older the elephant the more expensive the ivory will be.”
This is the second white elephant search project. The first was in 2001.
Aung Marm Oo, the director of the Thailand-based Arakan Rivers Network (ARN), said: “The military regime has been catching elephants in Arakan State for long time, especially in the Butheetaung, Maungtaw and Yathetaung regions. It is worse now because the regime asked the army to catch elephants under the name of this white elephant search project. We don't believe the army has found any white elephants, but we are certain that it has captured wild elephants, slaughtered them and sold ivory.”
In 2004, the regime captured a white elephant from Mayu mountain in Yathetaung Township and then Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, who is now under house arrest, built a garden on Min Dhamma hill in Insein Township in Rangoon where it was kept in a compound.
According to tradition, ancient Burmese kings believed they would become more powerful if they possessed a white elephant.
Khin Maung Kyi, an NGO worker based in Maungtaw, said two soldiers, a sergeant and a private, died after an elephant ran over them. A guide also died last week after he stepped on a land mine, he said. “The news of the death of the sergeant and private is well-known in our area. People whispered the news,” said Khin Maung Kyi.
Environmentalists are concerned that elephants in Arakan State are in danger of extinction from hunting and also an exodus of elephants from Arakan to Bangladesh.
Khaing Duwon, the director of Thailand's Chiang Mai-based Network for Environment and Economic Development (NEED), said the capture and slaughter of wild animals could eventually damage the environment.
“Elephants particularly graze in Mayu mountain in Yathetaung,” he said. “They don't like heat so they often look for thick forests and places where they can breath air from the sea. Hunting elephants for personal interest has become a business so there is a risk of elephants in Arakan State disappearing. Forests there are also becoming drier after being cut continuously by the army.
“People know that every year catastrophes occur in the world just because they don't pay attention to and preserve the environment. The same situation happens in Burma, where we are faced with Cyclone Nargis and other natural disasters every year. We must be more careful about the environment.”
Members of Congress and a national physicians’ group are going ape trying to halt researchers from zapping monkeys with radiation as part of a controversial Harvard Medical School experiment set to unfold in a primate lab at Belmont’s McLean Hospital.
SOCIAL CLIMBER: A baby squirrel monkey rides on its mom’s back at the Philadelphia zoo.
A group of eight Washington lawmakers sent a letter to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration last week urging the cash-strapped agency to cut off $1.75 million in funding for the study, which calls for 24 squirrel monkeys to be jolted with radiation doses equivalent to three years of space travel. The goal is to determine how a space mission might harm human astronauts’ brains.
“There is simply no ethical justification for putting these monkeys through these inhumane and possibly fatal experiments,” the letter states.
The letter calls the study “questionable science” and says the McLean testing is “redundant” because it is similar to Air Force experiments that yielded limited results in the 1990s.
Harvard and McLean officials did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement yesterday, NASA said the monkeys at McLean will “live in a social environment in full accord with federal guidelines.”
The nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, meanwhile, is filing a complaint tomorrow alleging that Dr. Jack Bergman’s planned tests violate the federal Animal Welfare Act. The complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald, claims the testing violates rules that bar animal tests if an alternative is available.
Bergman did not respond to a request for comment.
The complaint also states that Bergman’s plan to keep the monkeys isolated in separate cages violates federal laws requiring researchers to create social settings for primates.
“Squirrel monkeys normally live in large groups in the treetops,” said PCRM spokeswoman Jeanne McVey. “The law says primates are so intelligent and so social that you have to provide for their psychological well-being.”
Dutch tourists are filming squirrelmonkeys in the wild at the Raleigh Falls in western Suriname.
Dr. John Pippin, who filed the complaint on behalf of the PCRM, said: “We think (the study is) full of holes. This is a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer funds.”
TOKYO — It may seem odd, but the locals swear it's true. People in a Japanese mountain region have reported a number of kangaroo sightings, and journalists are now trying to stalk the marsupials.
The descriptions given by the apparent eyewitnesses seem close enough. For years they have spoken of a beige animal with large ears, one to 1.5 metres (three to five feet) tall, that stands by the roadside and then hops away.
The sightings were all reported in the Mayama mountain district of Osaki city in Miyagi prefecture, a community of 441 households, located about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Tokyo.
The city has received about 30 reports of "kangaroo-like animals," including three cases since December, when the mountain area was often covered in snow, said local official Tetsuya Sasaki.
"People aged in their 40s to their 60s have said they have spotted what looked like kangaroos while travelling to and from work in the early mornings and evenings," said Sasaki.
Rumours about kangaroo sightings started about seven years ago, and television crews and newspapers have set up hidden cameras in the district, but have so far failed to capture an image of a kangaroo.
As a joke, "some people have put up 'kangaroo crossing' signs on their roadside properties," Sasaki said.
Kangaroos are on show at many Japanese zoos and can be imported by individuals.
DEN BOSCH - De directeur van een varkenshandel in Lierop heeft een werkstraf van 160 uur gekregen. Zijn bedrijf kreeg 16.000 euro aan boetes. Volgens de rechtbank in Den Bosch duurde in 2008 het transport van de varkens te lang.
Ook waren de dieren op een verkeerde manier gemerkt. Verder was er voor duizenden varkens onvoldoende vers water en hadden ze te weinig materiaal om mee te spelen.
Ook werden dode biggen bij een te hoge temperatuur bewaard en werd er niet goed gerapporteerd aan het ministerie.
The Cairns Crocodile Farm received more than 140 applicants for the husbandry team member to "pamper" the reptiles through their growing stage to about three and a half years when they are harvested for their skins and meat.
Pampering role: Ashley Underhill has landed the best job in his life looking after 17,000 juvenile crocs at Cairns Crocodile Farm. Picture: MARC McCORMACK
The 33-year-old was a last-minute applicant and interviewee for the job which attracted applicants from throughout Australia and even an experienced Zimbabwean crocodile farm manager who is in line for another position.
Farm operations manager Bruce Clarke said Mr Underhill's late application attracted their eyes and his previous experience in meat and leather, including stints on ostrich farms in Victoria and Bundaberg were added bonuses.
The Smithfield resident moved to the Far North nine months ago with his wife Sasha.
Snappy customers: Some of the young crocs Ashley Underhill is in charge of.
He said he always wanted to work with crocodiles.
"It's been great. It's the best job I've ever had and I've had quite a few," Mr Underhill said. "It's a challenge and every day is different. "I have a healthy respect for crocodiles and it's all about keeping as safe as possible."
Among his tasks are checking the quality, quantity and temperature of the water in the crocodile pens, checking, preparing and giving their diet of chicken heads and turning on the cooling sprinklers.
"My job is to keep these three-year-old crocodiles happy and healthy," he said. "I'm starting to understand them and it helps working with animals all your life."
08-03-2010 Ottawa — The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail, Canada
Seal meat hors-d'oeuvres and main courses will be on the lunch menu at the parliamentary restaurant Wednesday. Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette says representatives of all political parties on Parliament Hill plan to sample the delicacies.
Governor-General Michaelle Jean, centre, helps an Inuit elder skin two seals during a community feast in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, on Monday.
The restaurant, an exclusive enclave for senators, MPs and journalists, said last fall it would add seal to a menu which routinely features beef tenderloin, salmon, even bison.
The idea of serving seal came after Governor-General Michaëlle Jean gnawed on a piece of raw seal heart during a northern visit last fall.
While she was sharply criticized in Europe by seal hunt opponents, Ottawa politicians decided to follow her lead.
Actually getting the meat on the menu was a delicate task, because MPs and senators were reluctant to dictate choices to chef Judson Simpson.
Ms. Hervieux-Payette, a Liberal senator and a strong supporter of the seal hunt, says the Wednesday lunch will allow politicians to demonstrate their backing for the hunt.
MPs say the addition of seal meat to the menu will be a boost for sealers battling a European Union ban on their products.
"What a difference a day makes" is the title and main theme of a beautifully produced motion graphics film launched by national campaign group, Animal Aid. If everyone in the UK committed to just one meat-free day a week, this would result in greater carbon savings than taking five million cars off the road.
Reducing the amount of animal products in our diets will also help to boost our health and, of course, help to end animal suffering. What more incentive do you need? So start with Meat-Free Monday and then try Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And dont forget to tell your friends and family!
What a difference a day makes was created by award-winning, London-based design and motion company, Taylor McKenzie (http://www.tmck.co.uk) and features Mobys iconic track, "In my heart", as the soundtrack to the film.
Kinshasa - Troops killed seven hippopotamuses, four elephants and six monkeys, including two chimpanzees, last month in a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an environmental group said on Monday.
The local group, Innovation for the Development and Protection of the Environment (IDPE), said that the killings took place in the Virunga National Park between February 7 and 25.
The IDPE accused "soldiers of the 15th and 18th Brigades of the FARDC" (the DRC army) of poaching and said they were acting "under orders from officers" who also charged a fee to local poachers, charcoal burners and fishermen in a protection racket.
The IDPE has proposed a "demilitarisation of the park", after denouncing previous killings of protected species in 2009.
But the Virunga Park, on the north-eastern border with Uganda, is a base not only to army units but to warring militia groups and rebel forces, all of whom kill animals for food and chop down trees to make fire.
The park includes Lake Edward, which in 1980 had the world's biggest population of hippos, numbering about 27 000. Today, there are fewer than 300, according to the director of the park, Emmanuel de Merode.
In September 2009, a FARDC corporal was killed by a hippopotamus while on a clandestine fishing trip.
Set up in 1925, the Virunga National Park is classed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco and it is the oldest game reserve in Africa. It is home notably to 200 mountain gorillas and a small population of plains gorillas, a species strongly faced with the threat of extinction.
BBC Inside Out Fifteen years since live exports divided Brightlingsea Protest.
In January 1995 Brightlingsea was thrust into the spotlight when farmers and exporters wanted to use the port to ferry live sheep and calves to Europe.
Animal rights campaigners believed the shipments were cruel.
For 10 months protestors and police clashed on an almost daily basis. There were hundreds of arrests and the demonstrations divided the community.
BBC Essex's Lynne Wilson was one of the reporters covering the story; she recalls the events of 15-years-ago.
When a small group of protestors gathered in the Essex town of Brightlingsea to stage a demonstration about live animal exports it was an entirely new experience.
Animal rights campaigners, led by Brightlingsea resident Maria Wilby, had organised themselves into a group called BALE (Brightlingsea Against Live Exports).
Daily protests began along the streets down to the small harbour as huge trucks, carrying live animals for export, trundled slowly through.
The cargo was mostly sheep, but there were also cattle, plus the animals which aroused the most emotion, veal calves. People wept, shouted, laid in the road, waved banners and tried to block the path of the huge lorries, sometimes attacking the lorry cabs in the convoy.
Reporting on miners' marches in South Yorkshire and the angry Poll Tax riots at Islington Town Hall, I had seen mob violence close-up.
But this was something entirely different. Although there were days of high tension, drama and anger, much of the time there was also camaraderie, goodwill and humour.
My colleague Paul Dunt was reporting for BBC Essex in the middle of a large crowd near the wharf one day when a fence was pulled apart and the wooden stakes used as weapons.
He remembers shouting "hello" to someone he knew amidst the bedlam. That was what it was like, moments of violence, panic and terror interspersed with good-natured banter!
It was the first time I had seen large numbers of women, young children, mums with toddlers and pensioners alongside activists and professional campaigners in the front line of an angry, and sometimes violent, public protest.
In my experience there are more than just two sides to every story, there are many more. Reporting the complexities and personalities involved is one of the best things about the job.
From Isla Humphreys, 19, who was repeatedly arrested, to Tilly Merritt, 79, it was the women, housewives, mothers, grandmothers, and children, who caught the media's eye. Especially when youngsters staged a protest during the half-term holidays.
I was lucky enough to have News Editor, Mark Wray, guiding me through.
We spent a lot of time wondering if we had reflected all sides in the right way; could we get access into one of the lorry cabs, were we telling the story about the impact on farmers, were we representing the views of people living in Brightlingsea who did not want to join the protests?
From the start there were huge attempts to foster good relationships in a small community where everyone hoped life would someday return to normal. The approach by Essex Police was a turning point in dealing with public disorder.
In April 1995, the relative calm was shattered as the Public Order Act was used, forcing protestors to give notice and causing a break down in communications between police and protesters.
Three months into the protests, in mid-April, the Act was tested and, for the first time, there were significant numbers of protesters arriving by coach from elsewhere. Masked demonstrators also appeared in the streets with water bombs, bottles, coins and eggs injected with chemicals.
It was a low point in the campaign and although order returned, for the next few months many people were haunted by the scenes that were splashed across the world's media.
This emotion was reflected on a daily basis on the BBC Essex phone-in with John Hayes.
John nicknamed it the "B" word and there were days when it felt like everyone was talking about this small, coastal town reluctantly flung into the eye of the storm. Then, at the end of October 1995, it ended almost as abruptly as it started. The exports stopped and life, very slowly, returned to normal.
When the BBC Essex radio car rolled into Brightlingsea on that freezing cold day in January 1995, we did not know we would all still be there 10 months later.
We also did not know the story would fill radio phone-ins for weeks on end, cost millions to police and spark interest across the globe.
Dog owners are being asked to take extra care with their animals on the Otago coastline over the next two months as penguins come ashore to moult.
Moulting is the period of time spent ashore annually when penguins shed their waterproof coat of feathers and grow a new set. It can take up to a month and birds lose up to half their body weight through normal metabolism while they cannot feed in the sea.
The Department of Conservation said dogs were a particular threat at this time, as penguins were often close to shore on beaches and had little energy for defence.
One penguin had already fallen victim to a dog attack south of Brighton last week, which Doc biodiversity ranger Mel Young described as a "tragedy".
The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust put up signs to warn people penguins were moulting in the Dunedin area, and instructing them to keep their dogs under control.
Doc also reminded people harassment by people or dogs could result in penguins fleeing the area, possibly for the sea, which could have disastrous consequences.
The public was encouraged to call Doc on 0800 362 468 if they saw injured or moulting penguins, particularly if humans or dogs were threatening them.
TAIJI - Dolphin hunters in a Japanese fishing town on Monday defended their annual cull after "The Cove", a hard-hitting film about the slaughter, won the Academy Award for best documentary.
Every year, fishermen in Taiji herd about 2,000 dolphins into a secluded bay, select several dozen for sale to aquariums and marine parks and harpoon the rest for meat, a practice long deplored by animal rights activists.
The team that shot "The Cove" over several years often worked clandestinely and at night to elude local authorities and angry fishermen, setting up disguised cameras underwater and in forested hills around the rocky cove.
Individual fishermen in Taiji routinely decline to speak to foreign media, but they have the support of many local people in the town of 3,700 who defend hunting dolphins, porpoises and small whales as a centuries-old tradition.
Town mayor Kazutaka Sangen and the local fisheries cooperative said in identical statements released on Monday: "We feel regret that the film features elements that are false and not based on scientific facts."
"Hunting of cetaceans in Taiji is being carried out appropriately under the fisheries laws and with the permission of Wakayama prefecture, and there is nothing illegal about it," both statements said. "It is necessary to have a spirit of mutual respect for culinary culture, which has its own tradition and character in each region."
Many people feel the same way in the southwestern town, which celebrates dolphins and whales with several sculptures and murals and a museum.
"I feel sorry for the fishermen who hunt dolphins as part of their work," said petrol station attendant Takehisa Kobata, 47. "To me, the film seems to be pure entertainment and is not seriously describing the lives here. "This is our culinary tradition. I wonder what the difference is between killing other mammals like cows and pigs and killing (dolphins)."
"The Cove," directed by National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, shows angry confrontation between residents and activist Ric O'Barry, who in the 1960s trained dolphins for the US hit television show "Flipper" but now argues the animals should be free to roam the oceans.
The film also highlights the health threat posed by high levels of mercury found in dolphin meat, which used to be served in local school lunches.
Local assemblyman Hisato Ryono, who years ago raised the alarm about the health threat to children, was interviewed in the documentary but now opposes "The Cove," arguing that it emotively distorts the issue.
"This is an unfair film, using clandestine shooting that the fishermen didn't want... I'm concerned about the image of the town of Taiji and Japan as a whole in the future after the film won the Academy Award."
One of the activists behind "The Cove", the co-author of the book on the film, Hans Peter Roth, was back in town on Monday.
"I tried to talk to residents, but couldn't," he told AFP. "If I could talk to them, I would want to talk about the future," he said, adding that he thought dolphin-watching trips, rather than hunts, could boost tourism.
"I'm here to find a win-win situation for everybody. That means for the fishermen and for the local economy -- and of course for the dolphins."
At the Awards ceremony, Psihoyos denied his movie was an example of "Japan-bashing" and said it was intended as a public health warning to Japanese who are sold dolphin meat contaminated by unsafe levels of mercury.
"Our hope is the Japanese people will see this film and decide themselves whether animals should be used for meat and for entertainment."
O'Barry added: "We like the Japanese people and there's no Japan bashing from this film. The Japanese people have a right to know.
"This film will do what the Japanese media failed to do, and that is inform the people so they can make up their own mind about what they want to do. We're not telling the Japanese people what to do."
09-03-2010 By environment reporter Sarah Clarke and staff, ABC News, Australia
The death of an unborn elephant calf at Taronga Zoo has prompted renewed debate about breeding the animals in captivity.
The mother elephant, Porntip (left), had a week of difficult labour (AAP: Dean Lewins)
The Sydney zoo had been expecting the birth of a second elephant calf any day, but an ultrasound confirmed it died in the final weeks of a two-year pregnancy.
The mother elephant, Porntip, had a week of difficult labour. Weighing 100 kilograms, staff said a caesarean section to deliver the calf was never an option. And it could take months for the mother elephant to give birth to the dead calf.
The zoo is devastated by the news but says the first-time mum appeared relieved and will breed again. "I am confident with the care that she's got she'll breed again. That will be the best outcome for us," zoo veterinarian Larry Vogelnest said. "Because it was upside down, the head was being pulled by gravity and would never have been able to get through the birth canal. [It would have been] physically impossible."
But conservation groups say it is a tragedy that should never have happened and claim city zoos are the problem. "In the crammed city conditions like the zoo, they can't express those natural behaviours as much as they would like," Humane Society International spokeswoman Alexia Wellbelove said.
Originally used to give tourist rides in Thailand, Porntip is described as the matriarch of the group at Taronga. Last July, Luk Chai was born to another of the zoo's Asian elephants, Thong Dee.
The zoo says first deliveries are only successful in about 50 per cent of elephant births. It is expecting its second naturally conceived calf later this year.
Police have strong evidence of two people’s participation in arson attempt; violations of regulations found on five fur farms after shock animal rights video
08-03-2010 Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Two young animal activists are facing jail sentences over suspected participation in an arson attempt on a fur retailer's shop that put human lives in danger in Turku in July 2008.
A new development in the case occurred only recently when the DNA investigation of samples collected at the crime scene helped the laboratory of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to link a young man and a woman with the fire. The duo was suspected already at the beginning, but charges were filed only against the 25-year-old man. Moreover, the charges against him were already dismissed once at the district court, but the new aggravating DNA results were available at the Court of Appeals this week. The prosecutor demands that the man be handed a prison sentence for the aggravated criminal act and that he should be remanded in custody immediately.
Following the DNA examinations, a new suspect in the case is a 24-year-old woman who has recently drawn public attention as an active opponent of furs while defending legal forms of anti-fur action. Whether or not she will face charges will be decided upon as soon as the Court of Appeals has handed out its decision in the case of the man who is already being charged.
What made the arson attempt in downtown Turku a serious crime was the fact that the fur shop was set on fire in the ground floor of an apartment building where dozens of people were sleeping. The floors of the old building are made of wood with sawdust insulating material. Some of the residents are children and disabled old people.
According to fire officials who were heard in court, serious injuries could have been caused. The fire brigade arrived at the scene in six minutes, when the fire had only just broken out and no carbon monoxide had spread yet.
DNA tracing back to the woman and the man was found in clothes that had been dumped in a nearby garbage bin. The clothes were found right after the criminal act. The DNA of the woman could also be detected in a pair of pimpled gloves, the index fingers of which contained similar red paint to the paint which had been used to write EVR (Animal Liberation Front) on the front door of the fur dealer's.
A bottle of strong detergent was found in the same waste bin. It had been used to set fire to a pile of fur in the shop. Some fragments of glass similar to the shop windows were also detected in the clothes. In addition, the man has twice told his physician and other staff treating him that he set a fire in a fur shop in the city centre.
At the same time, municipal veterinarians have examined the 30 fur farms that were put on a check list after the Oikeutta Eläimille(”Justice for Animals”) organisation made public some secretly filmed material regarding the farms in February. Violations of regulations were found on five fur farms. On some of the farms, deficiencies were detected with regard to bookkeeping of the tending of the animals. The footage by the activists was filmed in the autumn, after which the foxes and minks have been skinned and the sick animals have been put down.
The five fur farmers have been ordered to rectify all observed faults, and in due course the farms will be inspected by the authorities once again. Reportedly, the farms where deficiencies were discovered will be reported to the police. Head of Unit Jaana Mikkola of the Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA said that the results of the inspections were similar to those reported in previous years.
New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) At least 12 animals have died in the Delhi Zoo since October last year, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Monday.
“As per information received from the director, National Zoological Park, New Delhi, 12 animals have died since October 2009,” Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.
“Out of these, three animals died due to trauma and nine died due to various reasons like toxemia (blood infection), pulmonary oedema (fluid collection in lung) and myocarditis (inflamation of heart muscle),” he added.
The minister also said that to avoid such incidents in the future, intensive veterinary care and regular monitoring of animals is being provided. In addition, the government is taking steps to reduce overcrowding of animals and provide nutritious diets to the animals.
De Standaard in de fout 08-03-2010 St. Anti Dierproeven Coalitie
De Standaard publiceerde afgelopen donderdag 4 maart schaamteloos nieuwe propaganda voor de apenexperimenten aan de KU Leuven. (klik hier voor het artikel in De Standaard) Steven Stroeykens schreef een volledig kritiekloos stuk over het invasieve hersenonderzoek dat Guy Orban en zijn collega’s op weerloze makaakaapjes uitvoeren.
Het artikel stelt dat studies op menselijke vrijwilligers, waarbij proefpersonen in zogenaamde FMRI-scanners plaatsnamen, tot het inzicht hadden geleid dat mensen over een speciaal hersengebied beschikken dat onze omgang met werktuigen coördineert. Een ‘technologieknobbel’ zou je kunnen stellen. Dit is nuttige wetenschappelijke kennis die toepasbaar is op mensen en mogelijk uitzicht biedt op (medische) toepassingen ten behoeve van de mens. Dit is nu juist het type onderzoek waar de Anti Dierproeven Coalitie voor pleit; mensspecifiek en relevant neurologisch onderzoek.
Dierproefnemers zoals Guy Orban komen echter keer op keer met absurde conclusies naar aanleiding van resultaten zoals hierboven beschreven. Zoals hij in het stuk wordt geciteerd: ‘Vervolgens kun je hetzelfde doen bij apen'. Deze uitspraak is exemplarisch voor de apenexperimenten aan de KU Leuven; het ‘kan’ dus we doen het! Pseudowetenschap die vooral gericht is op de nieuwsgierigheid van de onderzoekers.
Let wel, dit onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd voor menselijke doeleinden onder het voorwendsel dat het mogelijk ooit iets zou kunnen bijdragen dat mensen zou kunnen helpen.
Wat één en ander nog schrijnender maakt is dat uit de experimenten op de aapjes uiteindelijk blijkt dat er een fundamenteel verschil bestaat ten opzichte van de uitkomsten bij mensen; de eerder bij mensen ontdekte ‘technologieknobbel' werd helemaal niet gevonden bij de makaken op de plaats waar ze verwacht werd.
Tegelijkertijd is zeer goed gedocumenteerd dat verschillende apensoorten wel degelijk werktuigen kunnen gebruiken (denk aan mensapen die stokjes gebruiken om termieten te vangen of stenen stapelen om voedsel te kunnen bereiken). Het is dus waarschijnlijk dat daar simpelweg niet dezelfde hersengebieden bij actief zijn als bij de mens. Eens te meer wordt hieruit duidelijk dat er duidelijke (neurofysiologische) verschillen zijn tussen mensen en andere diersoorten (en tussen die diersoorten onderling). Ook dit is iets wat de Anti Dierproeven Coalitie reeds lange tijd benadrukt.
De KU Leuven lijkt zich niet te realiseren dat dit juist de wetenschappelijke gebreken illustreert van haar experimenten op apen, zogenaamd ten behoeve van de mens. Voorts is er maar één goed model voor de mens en dat is de mens zelf.
Het steekt ons zeer dat de Standaard in dit ‘wetenschappelijke’ artikel het lot van de aapjes volledig onbeschouwd laat en zich hiermee voor het karretje laat spannen van de KU Leuven. Er worden geen ethische vragen gesteld, laat staan kritiek uitgeuit.
Gemakshalve wordt even weggelaten dat de aapjes, in tegenstelling tot de menselijke vrijwilligers niet vrijwillig plaatsnemen in de FMRI-scanners en ontzettend lijden onder hun leven als testsubject.
De aapjes worden eerst voorzien van een hersenimplantaat; een soort plastic ‘headset’ die aan de schedel wordt vastgeschroefd. Hiervoor moesten ze zeer ingrijpende hersenoperaties ondergaan waarbij er gaten in hun schedel worden geboord en waarbij hun schedelpan wordt gelift. Tijdens de experimenten worden de aapjes in speciaal ontwikkelde primatenstoelen gezet. Het hoofdje van de aap wordt volledig geïmmobiliseerd door middel van een magneet bevestigd aan de plastic headset. Zo probeert men de aapjes te dwingen naar een scherm te staren dat recht voor hen is geplaatst. Voorafgaand aan de experimenten wordt de dieren langdurig (minimaal 20 uur) eten en drinken ontzegt. Wanneer zij hun blik naar het scherm langdurig vasthouden worden ze ‘beloond’ met een paar druppels water of vruchtensap. Op deze wijze zorgen Guy Orban en zijn collega’s ervoor dat de aapjes mee te werken aan hun perverse proeven.
Hoe zo’n gruwelijk tafereel eruit ziet illustreert het plaatje –afkomstig van een publicatie* van Orban zelf- hieronder:
En dan hebben we het nog niet eens over het psychische leed dat hoogontwikkelde dieren, zoals apen, ervaren tijdens hun –vaak jarenlange en solitaire- opsluiting in proefdierlaboratoria, waar ze gedepriveerd zijn van al hun natuurlijke levensbehoeften als intelligente en sociale dieren. Dat onderzoekers als Guy Orban een welhaast onbegrensde wetenschappelijke nieuwsgierigheid hebben ten koste van dieren blijkt wel uit de laatste paragraaf uit het artikel in de Standaard: Orban is al een nieuw onderzoeksproject in de Verenigde Staten aan het plannen om dat uit te zoeken. Maar als hij moet gokken, dan zegt hij nee: ‘Ik verwacht niet dat chimpansees het zullen hebben. De mens is de enige aap met onvervalst technisch talent.'
Het is alarmerend en weerzinwekkend dat dierproefnemers zoals Orban geen strobreed in de weg wordt gelegd om tot in lengte van dagen wrede proeven te nemen op dieren met pijnvermogen en gevoel. In dit geval nota bene proeven op mensapen die in Nederland en België bij de wet verboden zijn op ethische gronden. Een grof schandaal dat de KU Leuven haar personeel toestaat om uit te wijken naar de Verenigde Staten om daar experimenten te verrichten op chimpanzees die hier illegaal zouden zijn. Erger nog, de kans is goed aanwezig dat Guy Orban voor zijn toekomstige onderzoek in de VS ‘grants’ krijgt van zijn werkgever, de KU Leuven; geld dat afkomstig is van de Belgische belastingbetaler!
De Anti Dierproeven Coalitie houdt dit dossier nauwlettend in de gaten en zal het publiek blijven informeren over de misdaden tegen apen en andere dieren door publieke instellingen zoals de KU Leuven.
Hunger drove a wild panda to break into a Chinese farmer's pig pen and eat the animals' food, which was meat and bone, rather than bamboo.
State-run China Central Television said the giant panda had apparently descended from the mountains in a region of Southwest China's Sichuan province and was spotted in a field before its discovery inside the pig pen, chewing on bones and spitting out the meat.
After eating its fill, the panda left quietly.
While it is classified as a carnivore, the giant panda's diet consists primarily of bamboo, though it also eats honey, eggs, fish, oranges and bananas when they are available.
Scientists believe there are around 1,600 giant pandas living in the wild in China, mostly in the mountains of the southwest.
WILD monkeys are being illegally trapped and plundered from the forests of south‑east Asia for use in British research laboratory experiments, fear animal welfare campaigners.
Campaigners and MPs are calling on the Home Office to examine allegations that wild-caught macaques are being sourced from the jungles of Laos and Cambodia in breach of international conservation regulations.
Undercover investigators from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) found appalling conditions at one primate centre in Laos where the factory farming of macaques takes place on an industrial scale.
They said monkeys were kept in rows of small chain-linked pens whose floors were made of either concrete or suspended wire.
And infants were taken from their mothers aged six months, they said, causing extreme distress to both.
Non-human primates can only be imported into the UK for toxicology and medical research tests from companies approved by British inspectors.
The regulations are aimed at ensuring adequate conditions and preventing ruthless businessmen cashing in on the booming trade by trapping monkeys in the wild. However, the BUAV fears those rules are being broken.
It is concerned that UK-approved centres in China and Vietnam are sourcing their primates from unapproved farms in Laos where there is no requirement to give long-tailed macaques permanent markers such as tattoos or chips.
Instead, they are simply given removable neck tags, which the BUAV says can be changed at will and which renders record-keeping seriously questionable.
BUAVs investigators say they witnessed horrific conditions at the largest of Laoss three primate centres, the Vannaseng Trading Company.
They claimed that the monkeys distress was intensified by overcrowding and by up to two months kept in dark conditions prior to export to China and Vietnam.
They are then shipped onwards to Europe and the USA on journeys that can take up to two days, the BUAV said.
The group also raised concerns that the British Government has just approved a primate centre in Cambodia where campaigners have also found disturbing conditions.
The BUAV wrote to Home Office minister Meg Hillier last week. Its director Sarah Kite said last night: The continued use of wild-caught primates is universally accepted as being cruel and unethical.
For the UK to be part of a trade where monkeys continue to be plundered from the wild would be unacceptable.
Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, who has raised his own concerns in Parliament, described the conditions in Laos as nothing short of disgraceful and called for an investigation into possible import rule breaches.
He said: The British Government is being completely complacent in this and it now needs to take decisive action.
However, the Home Office yesterday ruled out any investigation, saying we have received no evidence to suggest one is needed.
It stressed that it had inspected conditions the breeding centre in Cambodia last year and found it to be an acceptable source.
A spokesman added: We expect and require the highest standards in all aspects of animal research and will thoroughly examine any evidence that suggests these standards are not being met.
Some 2,000 primates were imported into the UK from China and South East Asia over the past two years and there is no suggestion that British research centres are breaching international regulations.
