Where are Florida’s monkey farms shipping monkeys?

Florida is home to three companies that provide monkeys to laboratories for use in research and testing: Primate Products, Worldwide Primates, and The Mannheimer Foundation (a fourth company, PreLabs, is constructing a new facility near Lehigh Acres).

truckIn response to a public records request, ARFF has received copies of paperwork filed by Primate Products and The Mannheimer Foundation with the State of Florida detailing shipments of monkeys since January 1. ARFF is looking into why Worldwide Primates did not file the required certificates of veterinary inspection with the Florida Department of Agriculture.

Between January 1 and December 9, 2014, Primate Products shipped 1,245 monkeys to contract research organizations, universities and government labs. Click here to download a summary of the shipments. Compared to previous years*, Primate Product’s customer list has shrunk. Two customers– Charles River and SNBL— made up 80% of Primate Products’ business.

In May, Primate Products shipped 20 monkeys to Central State Primates, a site operated by PreLabs in Missouri. Two months after the animals arrived, a USDA inspector found unsanitary conditions and a female monkey with “excessive hair loss.” The inspector noted, “hair loss can be a sign that the animal is in psychological distress.” The facility was ordered to improve environmental enrichment for its caged monkeys.  (Similar problems were identified during an inspection at Central State Primates in August 2013.)

This year The Mannheimer Foundation shipped a smaller number of monkeys (211) out of Florida. Its main customer was Merck Research Laboratories. Click here to download a summary of The Mannheimer Foundation’s shipments.

*ARFF released similar sets of records in August 2013, July 2012 and in November 2011.

Animal Activists Send Flowers to Mexican consulate

For Immediate Release: December 16, 2014

(Miami, FL) – This morning, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) delivered a bouquet of flowers to the Consulate General of Mexico, in downtown Miami, to congratulate Mexico’s congress on its enactment of a groundbreaking law prohibiting the use of lions, tigers, elephants and other wild animals in circuses.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation on December 11. Mexico’s Senate approved the legislation earlier in the week. The bill now needs the signature of President Enrique Peña Nieto to become law.

Legislator Arturo Escobar y Vega, of the PVEM (Ecological Green Party of Mexico), which pushed the measure, explained, “It is undeniable that there is cruelty and abuse during handling and training of animals in the circus industry, and it has been proven many times that animals are victims of physical and psychological damage.”

Flowers delivered to:
José Antonio Zabalgoitia, Consul General
Consulate General of Mexico in Miami
1399 SW 1st Ave.
Miami, FL 33130
Phone: (786) 268-4900

In June, Mexico City prohibited the use of animals in circuses. Thirteen Mexican states have also adopted bans.

“In circuses in Mexico, elephants, tigers and other animals spend much of their lives chained or in small cages. Training is often violent and abusive,” said ARFF Communications Director Don Anthony. “Sadly the situation is not any different for animals used in circuses that visit Florida, such as Ringling Bros.”

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has a long history of abusive treatment of elephants and other animals. ARFF will hold a demonstration against the circus at American Airlines Arena in Miami on January 8.

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