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LIFE STORIES
These are life stories of primates held in U.S. primate laboratories. They are based on documents obtained from the labs.
YNPRC
Dover Chimpanzee
Sellers Chimpanzee
3566 Rhesus Macaque
PWc2 Rhesus Macaque
Unknown Rhesus Macaque
ONPRC
13481 Rhesus Macaque
14326 Rhesus Macaque
20213 Rhesus Macaque
20229 Rhesus Macaque D
20233 Rhesus Macaque
20247 Rhesus Macaque
20253 Rhesus Macaque
20346 Rhesus Macaque
CNPRC
23993 Squirrel Monkey
23915 Crab-eating Macaque
23954 Rhesus Macaque
25142 Crab-eating Macaque
24974 Rhesus Macaque
24013 Squirrel Monkey
25157 Crab-eating Macaque
25205 Crab-eating Macaque
25274 Rhesus Macaque
25412 Crab-eating Macaque
27276 Crab-eating Macaque
28100 Crab-eating Macaque
28114 Crab-eating Macaque
30914 Rhesus Macaque
30916 Rhesus Macaque
30983 Rhesus Macaque
31031 Rhesus Macaque
WNPRC
cj0233 Common Marmoset
cj0453 Common Marmoset D
cj0495 Common Marmoset
Piotr Rhesus Macaque
rhaf72 Rhesus Macaque
rhao45 Rhesus Macaque
Rh1890 Rhesus Macaque
R80180 Rhesus Macaque
R87083 Rhesus Macaque
R89124 Rhesus Macaque
R89163 Rhesus Macaque
R90128 Rhesus Macaque
R91040 Rhesus Macaque
R93014 Rhesus Macaque
R95054 Rhesus Macaque D
R95065 Rhesus Macaque D
R95076 Rhesus Macaque D
R96108 Rhesus Macaque
R97041 Rhesus Macaque
R97082 Rhesus Macaque
R95100 Rhesus Macaque
S93052 Rhesus Macaque
Response from Jordana Lenon, public relations manager for WNPRC.
WANPRC
A03068 Rhesus Macaque
A98056 Pig-tailed Macaque
A92025 Baboon
F91396 Pig-tailed Macaque D
J90153 Pig-tailed Macaque
J90266 Pig-tailed Macaque
J90299 Crab-eating Macaque
J91076 Pig-tailed Macaque D
J91386 Pig-tailed Macaque D
J91398 Pig-tailed Macaque D
J92068 Pig-tailed Macaque
J92349 Pig-tailed Macaque D
J92476 Pig-tailed Macaque
UCLA
censored Vervet
censored Vervet
censored Vervet
UTAH
MCY24525 Crab-eating Macaque
MCY24540 Crab-eating Macaque
OIPM-007 Crab-eating Macaque
UNC-Chapel Hill
3710 Squirrel Monkey
APF
Ashley Chimpanzee
Karla Chimpanzee
Tyson Chimpanzee
Snoy Chimpanzee
Maurice p1 Maurice p2 Chimpanzee
Hercules Chimpanzee
Jerome Chimpanzee
Ritchie Chimpanzee
Rex Chimpanzee
Topsey Chimpanzee
B.G. Chimpanzee
Dawn Chimpanzee
BamBam Chimpanzee
Dixie Chimpanzee
Ginger Chimpanzee
Kelly Chimpanzee
Lennie Chimpanzee
Kist Chimpanzee
Peg Chimpanzee
Aaron Chimpanzee
Chuck Chimpanzee
James Chimpanzee
Alex Chimpanzee
Muna Chimpanzee
Wally Chimpanzee
#1028 Chimpanzee
Lippy Chimpanzee
#1303 Chimpanzee
#CA0127 Chimpanzee
Shane Chimpanzee
The University of Minnesota
#00FP8 Long-Tailed Macaque
#312E Rhesus Macaque
#9711B Rhesus Macaque
#99IP61 Long-tailed Macaque
The Fauna Foundation
The Fauna Foundation Chimpanzees
Center for Biologics Evaluation
Univ. of Alabama - Birmingham

 

#25142 CRAB EATING MACAQUE

A female crab-eating macaque was received into quarantine at the California Regional Primate Research Center (CRPRC) in Davis, California on September 6, 1989. She never left.

She weighed 2.6 kilograms a week after she arrived. No document is included in her records regarding her previous location. Perhaps she had been captured from the jungles of Southeast Asia. CRPRC estimated she was seven years old.

On September 12, she was tattooed with the serial number 25142. Just like the Nazi’s tattooed the Jews they captured.

According to CRPRC records, 25142 was immobilized with Ketamine at least seventy-eight times during the nearly ten years she spent at CRPRC and had blood drawn on at least 100 different occasions. She was moved to a new location on at least thirteen occasions.

Macaques are well known for the complex social groups in which they live. Matriarchal hierarchies determine status within the groups, which can member up to approximately sixty monkeys of mixed ages. Females typically remain in the group in which they are born throughout their lives. Individual animals are keenly aware of the alliances between the matrilineages and the family to which each group member belongs. For female macaques, their lives are ones of stability and social complexity. Removing one of these animals from her group must be viewed as the paramount insult to their psychological well-being.

Placing such individuals in cages with no companionship, with no opportunity for foraging or exploration, with a very limited amount of space, is a well-known cause of neurosis that often develops into a full-blown psychotic condition replete with self-mutilation and stereotypic behaviors. The mental stress associated with the experiences of typical laboratory usage cannot be overstated.

25142’s decade-long experience at CRPRC was recorded in thirty-nine pages of hand-written observations and notations. The entries are often cryptic, occasionally illegible, and generally business-like. These thirty-nine pages are supported with another forty-two pages of lab reports and a thirteen-page document describing, in a general way, the experiment that led to her death.

This is the story of one monkey’s victimization by us.

25142 was released from quarantine on December 7, 1989 after being x-rayed and having a sonogram to evaluate her reproductive status.

Her record is sparse up until April 17, 1991, at which time a notation was made that her abdomen was distended. The note says that she was having a late pregnancy (162 days), but that the abdominal swelling might be due to bloat. Counting back, she must have been impregnated, probably artificially, on October 7, though no mention of this occurs in her records.

On the 19th someone wrote: “Animal has normal stools and doesn’t appear uncomfortable therefore bloat unlikely. Maximum gestation 170 D. in cynos. Expect parturition by early next week, if baby not born by Wed. consider C-section.”

Laboratory personnel refer to crab-eating macaques as cynomolgus monkeys. Their scientific name is Macaca fascicularis.

April 22: “Preg 167 D. Stools normal, animal appears happy, healthy. Will ultra-sound at day 169 if parturition hasn’t occurred by then.”

Primate-using scientists write frequently that attending to the psychological well-being of monkeys and apes is a subjective effort at best. Ronald Hunt, a past director of the New England Regional Primate Research Center at Harvard University, summed up the researchers’ position nicely when he wrote, “The mental health of monkeys is unknown.” [Hunt, R. 1991. “The Necessity for Interpretation of Standards Designed to promote the Psychological Well-Being of Non Human Primates.” In Through the Looking Glass: Issues of Psychological Well-Being in Captive Non-Human Primates. M.A. Novak and A. J. Petto, eds. Washington D.C. 1991. American Psychological Association.]

The fact that observant people are able to make meaningful, if subjective, observations concerning monkeys’ mental health such as whether an animal appears generally “happy” or “depressed” seems to be lost on the defenders of their use in biomedical research.

April 23: “Informed by tech – mother having dys[unclear] – Infant’s head and shoulders still inside. Gave .4 [unclear] ketamine to immobilize. While going d[unclear], presented infant but no placenta extracted placenta – infant dead. 1 ml oxytocin.” [oxymorphone]

No follow-up entry occurs.

From April 23, 1991 to April 9, 1992, only eleven entries were made. Seven of these are weights; she went from 3.87 kilograms to 3.47 kilograms.

Beginning on the 9th, a series of cryptic daily entries were made. The first says: “Handheld for [unclear] (+).” For the next seventeen days, the entries, “DRB 50: 8.7 ml (1mg/ml) NGT,” “Handheld for [unclear] (+),” and “Bled [1 to 8] cc…DRB 50,” are interwoven from day to day. It seems likely that 25142 was being used in some experimental manner.

Monkeys are not domesticated companion animals. Dogs and cats have been bred over time to accept, even enjoy, being held or hugged. To a monkey, being handheld while someone else does something to you must be quite stressful and, likely, frightening.

On the 26th, a notation was made that she has had a “Pre-hysterotomy exam.” Also on this day she underwent a surgical procedure termed “Embyotomy.” The details are very sparse, and the surgical report is essentially little more than a cryptic note: “Ventral midline abdominal incision. Exteriorize uterus. Uterotomy incision central fundal longitudinal. Dissect out embryo membrane intact.” The remaining few words list the type of suture material used to sew up all the wounds.

Websters Dictionary defines “embryotomy” as: “The cutting a fetus into pieces within the womb, so as to effect its removal.”

On the April 29, a comment was made suggesting she was starting a new menses.

Not much is reported over the ensuing year. Comments occur occasionally regarding her menses. Apparently she was being used to produce fetuses on which some experimental substance was tested.

On January 29, she was reported to be bleeding. It was suggested that this might have been “late gestational bleeding” or, maybe, not obstetric at all.

On February 4 she was treated for dehydration and was described as depressed. She was active after the treatment.

On March 23, and April 12, 1993 samples of her fetus were taken.

On April 22, a Cesarean section was performed and the baby was reportedly delivered alive.

No mention of her baby appears again in her records.

Injections resumed on July 28, 1993. On the 29th she was reported to be vomiting and the suggestion was made that this might have been an effect of the Ketamine. No mention was made of the experimental substance she was injected with the day before.

On January 12, 1994 she was reported to have a wound on the tip of the second finger of her right hand. It was characterized as superficial and left untreated.

Injections and blood draws continued. At some point she must have been again impregnated. November 19, 1994: “[unclear] no blood seen. Liq[uid] stool could be very thick vomit. Day 125 pregnancy.”

On November 28, she had another cesarean. This time the baby was dead.

On the 29th there was blood and vomit under the cage she was in.

On January 18, 1995, she had a reproductive evaluation. It was noted that she had adhesions.
Injections and blood draw resumed. On July 26, she was seen for another injury to her right hand. The wound was deemed superficial and cleaned. An accompanying note: “trauma to finger superficial and probably occurred during cage pull.” She must be fighting the repeated injections, blood draws and examinations.

On December 17, she was again seen for another wound, this time to her left hand. Once again, it was judged superficial and left alone.

On January 26, 1996, she was reported to be pregnant again. On the 30th she was vomiting and was reported to be losing weight.

Beginning on February 21, blood was taken daily through the 29th. On the 29th it was noted that her feces was dry, that she was thin, and had been experiencing progressive weight loss.

March 10, 1996: “Reported thin & dehydrated. Animal has lots of skin folds on abdomen and face. But skin turgor is good. Gradual weight loss over past six months.”

On March 11, she was evaluated for her weight loss. A fecal sample was sent to the lab. She was described as thin but otherwise “normal.” It was suggested that they offer her more food.

On the 12th, there were many uneaten monkey biscuits in the cage and vomit underneath.

On the 14th, the lab results were back and the suggestion was made that 25142 might have liver disease.

On March 22, she underwent a blood sugar test related to the suggestion of liver disease. Following the test, during which she was anesthetized, she was reported to be weak.

The blood draws and examinations continued.

On the 26th and 27th there was blood under the cage. It was suggested that this was normal menses.

On April 4, someone confirmed that she was thin and suggested they give her more food.

On April 25, someone suggested that her thinness might have been due to the fact that she had been receiving daily ultra sound examinations. These, of course, were conducted while she was immobilized with Ketamine.

On May 7, she was again noted to be thin and again it was suggested that she be given additional food.

The daily ultrasounds and blood draws resumed on the 17th and continued through May 27.

On the 31st, she was reported to have mucus in her stool.

June 30: “Rept depression – animal looks active and normal to me.”

July 14: The blood draws and ultra sound examinations resumed and continued through the 24th.

On July 31, 1996, 25142 had blood drawn in preparation for a new experimental project. This one was coded PPV04.

On August 8, she was reported to be vomiting. On August 30 she was said to be thin. On November 15, 1996, 25142 received an intranasal and an intrarectal inoculation of human polio vaccine as a part of the new study.

On August 18, and 22, the inoculations, both intra-nasal and intra-rectal were repeated.

On December 10, it was recorded that she continued to have a poor appetite and had loss a little more weight. Earlier, in 1994 she had weighed 5 kilograms. Now she was down to 3.5 kilos. A suggestion was made that she be offered fruit every day

On December 14, she was reported to have liquid bloody stool and to have a poor appetite. Mention was made that she had hepatobiliary disease and that this was leading to her chronic anorexia.

December 19: “anorexia persists to some extent but stool is normal – PI [the Principal Investigator, the scientist using her in their experiments] refused further work up for liver disease. Progressive liver disease of unknown etiology – condition stable. Supportive care.”

Blood continued to be drawn.

December 27: “P.I. decided that further work-up is merited.”

December 29: “Rept. No stool. Animal has scant stool under cage. Not eating much.

She started receiving dietary supplements and seemed to pick up a bit.

January 10, 1997: “Recent weight loss likely due to 2 days of fasting and anesthesia. Continue to offer supplements and monitor closely.”

January 14: “Animal’s appetite has improved.”

On January 22, lab work was considered supportive of the possibility of liver disease.

Blood continued to be drawn periodically.

On February 21, someone suggested she be given calorie-rich dietary supplements.

On March 10 she was again intranasally inoculated with Sabin polio vaccine; and again on the 12th and 14th.

Blood continued to be taken.

March 23: “Re no stool & depression. Noted decreased appetite. Though lots of normal stool animal is a little quiet but moving around the cage well. Stable. Monitor.”

On May 31 she was reported to be vomiting and experiencing a heavy menses.

June 14: She was reported to be vomiting again, but this was considered a side effect of the Ketamine she was given the day before.

On June 25 she was reported to be depressed; the person responding to the report noted that although she was quiet, she would react and move around the cage.

July 16: “Reported for depression. Animal vocalized, stood, made aggressive posturing movements, and moved freely about the cage. Behavior [within normal limits] Continue to monitor.”

July 17: “Animal reported for depression and poor appetite. Seen 3 left over cookies. Not depressed. Continue to monitor.”

August 18: “Reported for depression. Appeared somewhat depressed also noted normal menses. Monitor.

Blood continued to be drawn periodically.

Reports of depression and poor appetite continued to be discounted.

On February 10, 1998 she was tattooed again.

Entries continued to suggest some lab work should be done for the possibility of liver disease.

On October 14, the area around her tattoo was shaved.

Her appetite remained poor.

March 10, 1999: “Re depression. Unable to confirm. Animal very reactive. Aggressive.”

California Primate Research Center
Pathology: Necropsy Report
Animal I.D: MCY25124
Room-Cage AB 5007-80
Investigator: [Hidden by CRPRC]
Pathologist: [Hidden by CRPRC]
Body Weight After Death: 4.06 kg
Sex: F
Age: 16y 6m
Project Code: PVV06
Clinician: [Hidden by CRPRC]
Death Date: 3-18-99
Type of Death: Exp. Death
Date of Necropsy: 3-18-99

Clinical History: Moved to infectious housing on 8/7/96. Intranasal and rectal inoculation with human polio vaccine on 11/15/96, 11/18/96, 11/22/96, and 11/25/96. Intranasal inoculation with 4x10e7 pfu Sabin polio vaccine on 3/7/97. 3/10/97, 3/14/97. Experimental cull on 3/18/99.

Clinical Diagnosis: Open.

Gross Observations: Body as a whole: The animal is presented in good flesh.

Gross & final Diagnosis: 1. Polio.
////////////////////////////////////////2. Tissue harvest.
////////////////////////////////////////3. NSL.

Comments: Tissues are harvested for the investigator. No tissues are saved for CRPRC histopathology.


The study that 25142 was being used for was named Development of Recombinant Polyvalent Viral Vaccines.

In this study, monkeys were inoculated with the Sabin polio vaccine that had been made with a poliovirus, just like the original polio vaccine. But this poliovirus had SIV, or simian immunovirus genes inserted into it. SIV is a virus that can kill some species of monkeys. The researchers noted in their proposal that “No human disease related to SIV has ever been described.” (p 13)

In the protocol, the researchers characterized the pain associated with the experiment as: “Severe pain near, at or above the pain tolerance threshold.” (p 5) Elsewhere, they said, “no pain or discomfort is anticipated for the animals.” (p 6)

The monkeys used were subjected to lymph note and colon biopsies. Plans had been made to infect some with SIV to see whether the vaccine had an effect. Since no mention was made of SIV in the necropsy report, we assume 25142 was never infected with the virus. Thus, the results of her repeated nasal and rectal immunizations were never tested.

It should be obvious that 25142 was ill on August 8, 1996 when she began receiving the inoculations. Whether her poor health was a function of the previous experiment she was engaged in is subject to speculation. From the records, CRPRC never considered this possibility, but we cannot say with certainty whether they did or not.

What can be said with absolute certainty is that a very unhealthy animal was chosen to experiment on. A very unhealthy animal was selected for use in an experiment on the immune system. It is likely that a junior high school student, just beginning to learn the scientific method, would see the flaw in this situation.

The life story of 25142 is one of isolated misery. It is an ethical disaster. Not only is the fact that she was used at all unethical, but also, and compounding, is the fact that she was used in this pseudoscientific and transparently flawed protocol.

Like all primate labs across the country, CRPRC has been blinded to the facts by its own defensive effort to protect itself from public criticism. One need only contrast the reality of 25142’s decade at the center with the public picture CRPRC chooses to present:

http://www.crprc.ucdavis.edu/crprc/CRPRC-Gallery%20frameset.html

25142, may you rest in peace.



Note: A special thanks to Jenny Gifford from Centerburg, Ohio, for taking the time to write to CRPRC and ask about 25142. One day, as other voices join with her's, all the labs will be closed forever.


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Tel: 678.489.7798

Email: info@primatefreedom.com


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