Monkeys saved from death
A young male capuchin monkey, which was born at a medical
research laboratory in Santiago and later rescued
Times Online and agencies.
A British primate sanctuary has rescued 88 monkeys from a
South American laboratory in the largest operation of its
kind in the world.
The capuchin monkeys were liberated from solitary cages in
Santiago, Chile, and flown to their new homes in Monkey
World, Wareham, Dorset, yesterday. Some of the monkeys, aged
between two and 30, have spent 20 years confined in the
cages, only taken out for medical experiments, without ever
seeing daylight.
They will now be rehabilitated before being settled into
social groups at the sanctuary’s Capuchin Lodge.
The laboratory asked for Monkey World’s help and Dr Alison
Cronin and her late husband Jim, who died from cancer last
year, had been planning the rescue for more than a year.
They initially intended to take them in smaller groups but
pressure mounted after staff at the lab received death
threats from animal rights protesters.
Dr Cronin, who is director of Monkey World, said: "This is
the largest rescue Monkey World has ever undertaken in its
history and the largest rescue of primates in the world
ever. They have been confined in small laboratory cages and
they are coming to us with lots of psychological and
potentially medical problems."
She added: "The first day we walked into the laboratory we
were met with shrieks and screams. Within an hour or so they
settled down. They realised we posed no threat to them."
It took two days to transport the 88 capuchins in individual
cages with windows, with help from the Chilean Air Force.
The Chilean military Hercules transporter arrived at
Bournemouth Airport yesterday evening after getting special
permission from the UK Government.
Monkey World has already rescued more than 50 monkeys and
apes from five different laboratories. Today, for the first
time in their lives, the monkeys will taste freedom when
they move into their new homes, begin meeting each other and
living more natural lives. Capuchins live in groups of
around 35 in the wild in Central and South America and have
a life expectancy of more than 30 years.