Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 13

Animal right activists from home and abroad today demanded banning of breeding and export of Nepali monkey to the US laboratories for biomedical research.

"We strongly request the Nepali government to demonstrate its commitment to enlightened and ethical research practices by halting biomedical research on Nepali monkeys," a petition, signed by over 500 individuals, said. The petition has also sought legislations to prevent such actions.

A recent policy related to wildlife farming, reproduction and research allows individuals to farm a few selected animal species including rhesus monkeys and carry out biomedical research on the second generation species.

Natural History Society Nepal, affiliated to the Washington based National Primate Centre, has recently signed a letter of intent with the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) to carry out farming of rhesus monkeys.

"We are deeply shocked by the fact that the proposed act on wildlife farming is being misused to allow to breed and export Nepali monkeys for biomedical research," Lucia de Vries, freelance journalist and animal welfare campaigner, told The Himalayan Times.

Nepal is rightly proud of its successes in wildlife conservation but now a different trend seems to be set: money first, she said.

"The US, keen to conduct bioterrorism experiments on primates, is desperate for lab monkeys, which is why they turn to countries with weak legislation and a willingness to sacrifice its precious wildlife, such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and, lately, Nepal," she said.

According to the new provision, the DNPWC would provide seed animals to the interested party in fees that ranges from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000.

"Government department can earn up to Rs 25,000 per monkey, while second generation primates can be sold for US $ 5 to 10,000 to the US labs," said she.

"We should not allow Nepali monkeys to die a painful, slow death in American labs, just for the sake of enriching a few," she said. The petitioners have also claimed that the decision is not "in accordance with the Working Policy on Wildlife Farming, Breeding and Research 2003, as communities living with monkeys do not benefit from this development at all, and inflicting suffering to animals goes against the spirit of the Civil Code (Muluki Ain)."

Dr Mohan P Wagle, acting secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation denies the allegation that Nepal is selling its monkeys.

"The permission is related to research not sale," he said. However, he accepted that the existing policies are not clear on the issue.

In a similar vein, Dr Mukesh Chalise, of Natural History society has denied that the charges they are exporting the monkeys to the US lab.