May 30, 2003

This is in memory of Pricilla, ID #27276.

This is the story of Pricilla, a crab eating macaque, #27276 who was held prisoner at the University of California Davis. She is no longer alive, but her spirit lives on and I have hope that someday that all animals will no longer be used in any animal testing ever again. I read through the lab reports that I received, and I must say that most of the vivisectionist' (or mad doctors, as I refer to them) have sloppy handwriting and I could only make out so much. I will list her life events since she was captured and forced to be a subject of a breeding project. She was brought to UC Davis at the age of 5 years old and lived to be almost 13 1/2 years. She was a courageous primate who suffered without a doubt at the California Regional Primate Research Center at UC Davis.

Some background information on crab-eating macaques: They are found in the countries of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. This species is found in a variety of forest habitats throughout its range, it especially prefers edge habitats. Pricilla was most likely removed from the wild, possibly from one of these countries, and lived to be five years old before she was captured and imprisoned. I only assume she was taken from the wild, since there is no records of where she came from. No longer would she be able to hang in the trees and search for crabs and other good eats, she would have to live on monkey chow and biscuits, with occasional fruit. The life span of crab eating macaques is approximately 30 years. Unfortunately, when kept in captivity, especially under stressful situations, like she was in, they only live to a fraction of that life span.

The social life of these primates is groups of 6-100 with about 2-3 females per male in their group. Males leave their birth group and try to find another troop where they try to replace the high-ranking males there. These events are very aggressive and combatants are usually injured. Females remain in their birth group and there is a hierarchy among them, which passes on to their offspring. Offspring of higher-ranking females have a better chance of survival, through better access to food and less aggression being directed at them. Troops are highly intolerant of each other. When two troops meet there is a great deal of aggression, loud calls and branch bouncing. In these encounters, the alpha male leads the troops. I can't imagine what she must have felt when she was torn away from her family group and forced to be in solitary confinement, except when she was with an infant and had a roommate once, for about 1 month.

Pricilla was forced to endure many pregnancies but only had 2 live births. One was a male, and the reports don't specify what sex the other infant was. She went through several pregnancy terminations, with dead fetuses. Without a doubt, this must have caused her tremendous stress, especially all the procedures that were done to her and having her infant removed from her cage on many occasions. She must have felt separation anxiety and I can't imagine what other emotions she experienced. She obviously was used in some type of experimental breeding program, unless all female macaques are forced to endure what she did. Even though I never knew her or was able to see her face-to-face, she holds a special place in my heart and I will never forget her. I keep her ID tag on my keychain and look at it whenever I need assurance why I do what I can to help animals, and also educate the public about animal cruelty issues, so these other animals will meet her same fate.

[signed] Kiyanna Eichert

I will put the events in date order so you can see how she progressed until her death. Here is what I took from her lab records:

11-18-92 UC Davis acquired Pricilla; she weighed in at 2.15 (kg).

11-24-92 She had multiple tests done, including microbiology and parasitology samples taken.

04-09-93 First noticed poor appetite; she is skittish, but otherwise clinically healthy.

06-15-93 Moved cages, and given measles-rubella immunizations. Had radiology thorax (thoracic vertebra) testing done.

07-18-93 Given Ketamine and had a reproductive evaluation

09-24-93 Hand held for injections, given various unknown drugs.

9-26-93 Given unknown drugs and had a nasogastric intubation (stomach), given retinoic acid for 10 days.

10-06-93 She had a nasogastric intubation again, given retinoic acid for 10 days.

10-08-93 Given drug Rogemic for 30 days

10-10-93 Pre-hysterectomy exam (surgery to remove uterus); Pregnancy termination dead non vaginal experimental, given drug intramuscular oxymorphone for 3 days. Also experimental intervention, mentioning incision, uterus, excision and embryo.

10-11-93 Clinical treatment, given drug peptonized iron cyanocobalamin for 30 days.

1-25-94 Tattooed.

06-06-94 Dental work done.

08-09-94 Moved cages again.

09-09-94 More dental work.

10-14-94 Signs of poor appetite

01-26-95 More dental work.

01-27-95 Bled 3 mls. (Pricilla was bled multiple times throughout 95 and 96)

02-10-95 Seal @ injection site, no abscess, small amount of purulent exudater (?) Clean daily.

05-05-95 Blood noticed under cage from nail bed of D3 left hand.

09-05-95 Pregnancy test results are negative

09-27-95 More dental work.

01-19-96 Pregnancy test results are positive!

01-24-96 Skip tube test since she is over 140 days pregnant.

01-30-96 Gave birth to a male, #945-0854. Given drug potassium gluconate and electrolytes.

02-02-96 Poor appetite noticed, infant is strong on nursing.

02-03-96 Infant looks strong.

05-22-96 More dental work.

09-25-96 Moved cages again.

01-08-97 Pregnancy test results negative.

01-23-97 More dental work.

03-13-97 Heavy menses confirmed; monitor, menses is a warning sign of endometriosis.

04-07-97 Pregnancy test results are positive!

04-17-97 Pregnancy termination - dead fetus non vaginal experimental. Clinical treatment. Given drug oxymorphone for 2 days, experimental intervention including mentioning incision, uterus, excision and embryo.

04-18-97 Post-op, monitor sutures.

04-21-97 Moved cages again.

07-29-97 Found mucus next to stool, but not mixed in with it.

09-08-97 More dental work.

01-21-98 More dental work.

01-23-98 Injection trauma, test site.

03-11-98 Pregnancy test results are positive

05-21-98 More dental work.

07-31-98 Live birth to ID #978-0655, both infant and mom are well, (it doesn’t say if boy or girl).

09-05-98 Observed in the morning that the infant’s tail was bitten off! Likely by ID # 1610-35, gave drugs to remove infant from cage. Tail amputation surgery for infant.

09-11-98 Blood noticed under cage.

09-21-98 More dental work.

11-25-98 Removed infant from cage, gave Pricilla Ketamine due to trauma.

11-26-98 Blood noticed under cage, likely from infant from previous day.

11-28-98 Noticed vomit in cage.

01-19-99 More dental work.

07-31-99 Moderate bleeding noticed, poor appetite.

09-22-99 Noticed moderate to large amount of greenish vomit under cage, otherwise animal seems healthy.

02-25-00 Poor appetite, ate only sunflower seeds, left 5 biscuits untouched. (In 2000, multiple times bled).

4-14-00 Pregnancy test results are positive! (No further info on infant or abortion? It doesn't say in report).

04-22-00 Very poor appetite.

05-13-00 Poor appetite likely due to Ketamine given previous day.

08-15-00 Moved to have a roommate.

08-20-00 Mucus in stool.

08-28-00 Moved back to home cage.

10-16-00 Moved cages again.

01-12-01 More dental work.

03-21-01 Moved cages again.

03-27-01 Pricilla died today.

Pregnancy termination: dead non-vaginal experimental intervention. (No info on when she was inseminated or other pregnancy info from lab report). Embryotomy (cutting a fetus into pieces within the womb, so as to effect its removal)
was performed. She was euthanized at 2:15 pm today. They used Pentobarbital for lethal intravenous injection. She weighed in at 4.07 (kg) upon death. She was 13 years 4 months old when she was killed.

In memory of Pricilla, whom I will always cherish, as she forever holds a special place in my heart,

Kiayanna

Pricilla's life would have passed unnoticed without the efforts of Kia Eichert. Her story would have remained unwritten. Thanks to Kiayanna and other caring citizens, the hidden suffering is being exposed.