Help End Primate Research in Ontario
Horrifying undercover footage of the way monkeys are treated in a research facility at York University in Ontario has prompted the Animal Alliance of Canada to urge the Ontario Government to prohibit invasive research on non-human primates. Our gratitude to both Animal Alliance for initiating this action and to Last Chance for Animals for their investigation. Please help! The information below comes from Animal Alliance’s action alert:
Video footage recorded inside a York University research facility by a whistleblower working with a U.S.-based group, Last Chance for Animals, reveals disturbing conditions and ethically questionable research practices. The research involves at least nine non human primates, six of whom have been confined at the facility in Ontario for up to 17 years.
In light of what was uncovered, we are urging the Ontario Government to add non-human primates to the forthcoming updated regulations under the Animals for Research Act, so that the new protections from “invasive medical research” currently in place for dogs and cats are expressly extended to non‑human primates.
At York University, monkeys reportedly are subjected to neurological experiments that include:
- Craniotomies and brain implants
- Repeated invasive surgical interventions
- Use of outdated eye-coil technologies requiring surgical implantation
- Severe water deprivation
Like dogs and cats, non-human primates are highly sentient, intelligent, and socially complex beings who experience pain, fear, and psychological distress. The harmful research procedures currently conducted on primates in Ontario at York University raise the same ethical concerns that prompted the Ontario Government’s commitment to protect dogs and cats.
