(CN) Monkey and Beagle breeding for laboratories

[Guest guest]

Article published in Animal Rights Magazine 2/02:

 

Unique Visit by Animal Rights Sweden:

 

This is where the monkeys of SMI are raised

In the last issue of Animal Rights Magazine was revealed that neither

Jordbruksverket

 

( The Agricultural Bureau) nor Smittskyddsinstitutet ( The Swedish Institute

for the Prevention of Contagious Diseases) have any detailed information

about how the monkeys, imported to SMI, have been treated in China, their

country of origin.

 

SMI has spent hundreds of thousands of crowns to buy the monkeys but

consider themselves to poor to find out how the animals are treated in the

place they come from. Animal Rights Sweden decided it was time to seek more

information. For more than a week, the reporter of Animal Rights stayed in

China and has given us a harrowing account.

 

- It's possible that you won't like what you'll be seeing, Li Xiao says.

I'm not too fond of it myself. The monkey place is old and run down.

 

Li talks about the cages used for the raising of 3 500 monkeys at the

establishment of Guangdong Shunde, Institute of Laboratory Animals, of

which he is the owner and manager. The institute is affiliated with a

research laboratory in the Chinese city of Shunde with millions of

inhabitants, a hundred kilometers to the north west of Hong Kong. The

institute is surrounded by walls and fences. At the one and only entrance

are guards who check everybody coming and going. Down below, the traffic

thunders by. Trucks and buses pass between plants and big cities in the

closely populated delta of Pearl River. The area is known for its

prevalence of plants for simplar assemblage where Chinese people from the

rural districts work day and night for starvation wages. Intensive raising

of animals for export to Western laboratories is obviously on its way to

become yet another niche that is about to be specialized in by the rapidly

expanding area.

 

Li quickly guides me to the monkeys' unit. When we reached a small hill

we can see a long row of cages, each one full of monkeys; Crab eating

Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis) and Rhesus ( Macaca mulatta). The cages

continue in several stories and form a system of terraces. They are of

metal, brown and rusty from many years of usage. The floor and the back wall

are made of concrete. My estimation of the floor space is approximately 3x4

meters and in each cage are ten to 15 monkeys. In other words, each monkey

has about one square meter at his disposal. The short side of each cage has

a small, dark space where the animals are to take refuge if the weather

turns inclement. Monkeys like to climb and find their sustenance among

shrubs and branches. But in the cages are no possibilities for stimulating

activities. The only thing for them to do is to climb the bars and run

around on the concrete floor. When I get closer to one of the cages, the

monkeys get frightened and throw themselves to the father end of the cage.

I ask Li why they are so afraid and the answer I get is, that they probably

think that I am going to catch them. Such catches have to be done now and

then to check if the monkeys are healthy and have not caught any diseases.

 

- The catch is always a big problem, he tells me frankly. We try to get

them with a bag net. When this is done, we bend their arms back and tie them

up. Then it's easy to examine them.

 

Li is the embodiment of a Chinese business man. He owns a new car,

wears nice clothes and he wants to make more money. It is now ten years ago

since the state owned laboratory was put under private ownership and became

Guangdong Shunde Institute of Laboratory Animals. Li purchased it and

decided to make it into a profitable subcontracting business of laboratory

animals for experiments. To-day he exports not only monkeys but even dogs

all over the world. Even a great deal of laboratories in China are supplied

with animals from the institute in Shunde. Back in his office, he proudly

shows exporting licenses and other official affidavits which show that

monkeys have been exported to institutions in the Netherlands, Switzerland

and to SMI in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

A great amount of beagles have been sold to Japan and the Netherlands.

The dogs are sold for about 500 US dollars each, according to Li. In one

permit I read that three monkeys were sold for 2 700 US dollars to a place

in Switzerland. The shipping cost and other expenses are probably included

in this sum but when the animals are sold for 500 dollars each you realize

that it is a very lucrative market for the person who is able to run a large

breeding business and has the right contacts abroad. I discreetly ask if Li

does not make a lot of money on the breeding business. But he only laughs

and answers that he has had such large expenses that his income still is

modest.

 

As a breeder of monkeys on a large scale, the establishment in Shunde

is one of 20 in China. Li considers his own place, that produces 3 500

monkeys a year, as being of medium dimensions compared with other places.

The largest breeder is found in Yunnan in the south-western part of

China.They have earlier delivered monkeys to SMI and the University of

Uppsala. Guangdong Shunde Institute of Laboratory Animals also breeds

 

4 000 to 5 000 dogs yearly for experiments. This makes them the largest

breeder of dogs in China, according to Li.

 

A few hundred meters from the monkeys is the dog department. When we

get close to the cages there is a terrible uproar from barking and

whimpering beagles. Even the dogs are held in small cages with bars and the

floor space can not be much more than one square meter. The floor consists

of metal netting. Walls and roofs are metal bars. In one area silence

prevails and I presume there are no dogs. But when I get closer, I see rows

of cages where puppies are huddled together. I ask Li why these dogs are

quiet. Are they sick or just tired?

 

- No, they are just younger than the other dogs. These dogs are one to

two years old, the others are four, five months old, Li tells me.

 

- Well, how old do they have to be when they are sold? I continue.

 

- It doesn't matter how old they are. If they want dogs who are three

months old, that's OK. Do they want older dogs, we'll deliver those. The

buyer is the boss.

 

It is difficult to get an idea of exactly how many monkeys and dogs

there are who don't make it under the conditions that exist at the place in

Shunde.

 

- Of course animals die, one of the employees tells me. He is one of

the persons at the farm who speak a fairly good English, aside from Li.

 

Before answering my question of how many animals who die a month, he

speaks in Cantonese with his employer, Li, and then says that it is about

ten or so a month and that the survival rate is 98%.

 

- But if the weather conditions are bad, many more animals die. In

December it was cold and it was a bad month for the animals. Lots of them

died, the employee continues.

 

According to another visitor to the farm the death rate is much higher.

 

- About 40% of the monkeys die before they reach the age where they

may be sold. This was the straight answer one of the vets, working at the

establishment, told the source of information to Animal Rights. This source

wishes to remain anonymous for his own safety.

 

- They told me in Chinese and I am sure I got it correctly.

 

If the demand for monkeys is great, the Shunde institute has to buy

monkeys from others. Sometimes it seems as if these monkeys are caught in

the wild. That is the impression I get anyway, when I question the employee

about the matter.

 

Caught in the wild? What's that? He asks at first.

 

- In other words, they are not raised in a cage, but taken directly from

the forest, or wherever they live, I explain.

 

- Yes, they could be. We get monkeys from all kinds of places. We don't

care where they come from, he explains.

 

But Li doesn't like the answer and quickly corrects his employee:

 

- No, we have never had any monkeys from the wild. We really don't buy

monkeys from anywhere else. They all come from here.

 

Li does not want me to look too closely at the monkeys' unit. Instead,

he talks happily about the new breeding place that has been built in Gaoyao,

a few kilometers to the north of Shunde. Shortly, all the monkeys and some

of the dogs will be moved there.

 

- It'll be much better for them, he promises.The climate is better. It's

not close to a big road, nor is it in the middle of a big city, as it is

here. Everything is new and fresh.

 

Then he speaks enthusiastically and shows me pictures of the new place.

The new buildings look nice. Freshly painted in a light blue color they make

me think of a Grecian island. But the monkeys' and dogs' cages are the same

as in Shunde. That is, small, barren, metal cages, without enrichment. It is

mainly the increased demand that has caused the institute to expand its

business.

 

- I want to sell more animals. Monkeys and dogs, both. Perhaps the Swedes

will buy more monkeys from us? He goes on expectantly.

 

 

 

JENS HOLM

 

jens.holm

 

Facts: Animal Welfare in China

It is difficult to work for animal welfare in China. No laws protecting

animals exist in the country and there is no public control of

establishments keeping animals. Neither is there any animal protection

movement to speak of. In some places are people who take care of feral dogs

and cats.The Hongkong based Animals of Asia Foundation is one of few

organizations that work for the animals. Right now they are trying to get

the Chinese government to write a law for preventing cruelty to animals. But

it may take a long time before such a law will become a reality in China.

 

- We are a few people who are writing a draft that we hope the government

will be interested in. But a lot of diplomacy and tact is required to get

things done. Therefore it may take a long time before anything happens, says

Jill Robinson, chairman of the board of Animals Asia.