Written by Michelle Kretzer
It was a grand day for celebrating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sunday. Thousands of monkeys had been saved from being tortured and killed in laboratories, and in a special reception at her gourmet vegan restaurant, Sublime, PETA's patron Nanci Alexander honored one of the key women who made it possible, with PETA's Nanci Alexander Activist Award.
Nanci Alexander and Puerto Rico Sen. Melinda Romero-Donnelly
When Bioculture, Inc., planned to open a monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico, where it would imprison 4,000 monkeys and sell their babies for use in torturous experiments, it didn't count on Puerto Rico Sen. Melinda Romero-Donnelly. She worked with PETA and led a Senate investigation into Bioculture, which uncovered that the company had failed to file required reports and had built its facility on land that was not zoned for that use. PETA filed a lawsuit to halt construction of the facility and won every round. Sen. Romero-Donnelly helped get a Senate resolution passed that formally asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to deny Bioculture any permits to import or breed animals in Puerto Rico.
In front of a crowd that included supermodel Joanna Krupa, Telemundo's Natalia Villaveces, El Talismán's Pablo Azar, pro surfer Karina Petroni, and PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, Sen. Romero-Donnelly received the award, given in honor of Alexander, who founded the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.
Nanci Alexander awards activist Meggan Anderson
Besides the treat of world-class vegan cuisine, the crowd was treated to the unveiling of Joanna Krupa's Angel for Animals ad and PETA campaigner Meggan Anderson's acceptance of the Nanci Alexander Award for her tireless efforts in behalf of animals.
Unveiling of Joanna Krupa's Angel for Animals ad
But of course, the real delight of the evening was knowing that thousands of monkeys would not be suffering in laboratories, thanks to dedicated animal advocates.
Written by Jeff Mackey
In the triumphant finale to a long, hard legal struggle over a suit filed by PETA and citizens of Guayama, Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts that the monkey-breeding facility built in Guayama by Bioculture, Inc., was constructed illegally and therefore cannot be opened for business!
The court also denied Bioculture's motion to reconsider the ruling. So, as Kathy Guillermo, PETA's vice president of laboratory investigations, put it, "The final nail is now in Bioculture's coffin, and the 4,000 monkeys and generations of their offspring who would have suffered and died for the company's profit have been officially spared."
Muchas gracias to everyone who helped put a stop to Bioculture's plan to capture monkeys from their homes in the wild, imprison them in cages, and then sell their offspring for use in painful and deadly experiments at notorious facilities such as Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Charles River Laboratories, and Covance.
Now, let's put another nail in the nasty monkey-pimping-and-torture coffin. Click here to urge airlines that still transport nonhuman primates to U.S. laboratories for cruel experiments to cut out the monkey business.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
A protest held by PETA, Animal Concerns Puerto Rico, and the Puerto Rico Committee for Free Dolphins against a proposed San Juan, Puerto Rico, dolphinarium went swimmingly as dozens of supporters came out to explain why the facility would be bad for dolphins and the city.
Photo: El Comité por Delfines Libres de Puerto Rico
The facility would purportedly use the dolphins to work with children with disabilities, including autism, but San Juan's mayor and other proponents ignore the fact that dolphin-assisted therapy has been discredited, with experts calling it downright dangerous. Who wants to risk having their child sexually molested by a randy dolphin?
Meanwhile, countless studies show that confining highly social, intelligent dolphins to cramped concrete tanks is akin to torture for them. Glen Venezio, who helped organize the protest, urged the city to embrace "the concept of live and let live. Leave the dolphins alone, in their ocean world where they belong." PETA supplied the local group with posters and other materials for the protest.
If your city has a marine mammal park or zoo, if you learn about an event featuring animals as prizes, or if there's any other situation harmful to animals in your community, contact PETA's Action Team to get help organizing a local protest or outreach. E-mail ATeam@peta.org or click here to join the Action Team and receive e-mail updates about events in your area.
Written by PETA
Bioculture, the company that planned to open a monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico, suffered another crippling blow today when Puerto Rico's Court of Appeals upheld a December 2009 Superior Court ruling that the construction of the facility was illegal because of zoning and permit issues.
You may recall that PETA and local citizens first got construction of the facility stopped in 2009 with a successful lawsuit and injunction blocking further construction. Unhappy that we interrupted its plans to imprison monkeys and sell them off to cruel fates in laboratories, Bioculture appealed the decision. And now, once again, the Puerto Rican courts have told the company, "No más."
Since the city of Guayama has also enacted a law banning the import, export, breeding, and use of monkeys in experiments within its boundaries, Bioculture's shameful activities thankfully have no home in Puerto Rico.
Please help PETA's ongoing efforts to keep monkeys out of laboratories by signing the White House petition to replace the U.S. Army's cruel training exercises using monkeys with modern human-patient simulators.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
This year is coming to a close, but we're not done yet: The victories keep pouring, or should I say, roaring in! We recently reported the end of cruel cat labs at Texas Tech and Robert's "retirement" from experiments at the University of Utah. Today, we're thrilled to announce yet another huge victory—this time, for thousands of monkeys.
For months, PETA has been working with an international coalition of animal protection groups to stop the construction of a massive monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Bioculture, a company that sells primates to laboratories, had plans to capture thousands of monkeys from Mauritius and ship them to Puerto Rico so that their offspring could be sold for use in frightening, painful, and deadly experiments in the U.S. and elsewhere.
We have just learned that in response to a lawsuit filed by local citizens and PETA, a Superior Court judge in Puerto Rico has ruled in activists' favor and halted all further construction of the Bioculture facility.
Turns out there are serious problems with Bioculture's applications and permits, including that the construction of the primate facility on the land it currently occupies would be against the law. An investigation by Puerto Rico's Senate Environmental Committee also discovered that Bioculture did not properly address the detrimental impact the project could have on local citizens and their water supplies and land and stated that it "is not sensible" for Puerto Rico to support the project.
Despite this great news, I imagine Bioculture execs trying to regroup, telling themselves, "Where there's a will [for us to cash in on cruelty], there's a way." Help us nix that notion by urging officials to permanently put a stop to this monkey-breeding facility and others in the future.
Written by Karin Bennett
PETA's campaign to stop plans by biological supply company Bioculture to build a monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico, just got another shot in the arm, courtesy of CNN Headline News' Jane Velez-Mitchell.
In an update to a story that originally broke on Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell back in July, PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo appeared on the show along with Puerto Rican Senator Melinda Romero to talk about the controversy surrounding Bioculture's plans to tear wild monkeys out of their native home in Mauritius, lock them up in cages, and sell their offspring to laboratories.
After PETA and other groups started lobbying against the facility, the Puerto Rican Senate launched an investigation and uncovered what appear to be illegalities associated with the company's permit process, including failure to file an environmental impact report and other required reports. The Senate has now condemned Bioculture and vowed to stop the company from setting up shop in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Ricans who are learning about the project thanks to PETA, a coalition of animal groups, and Jane Velez-Mitchell are none too happy about it. Hundreds have turned out to protest the monkey factory farm, and even government officials such as Senator Romero and Guayama Mayor Glorimari Jaime are outspoken in their opposition to it. You can add your voice to theirs by clicking here.
Written by Alisa Mullins
You probably know him from his roles in movies such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Traffic, 21 Grams, Sin City (my personal favorite), and many others. He's also won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and a SAG award. Now actor Benicio del Toro is adding one more bullet point to his résumé: animal defender.
The Puerto Rican actor has penned a letter to the governor of Puerto Rico urging him to halt the construction plans for Bioculture's massive monkey-breeding facility. As you might remember, Bioculture—a company that supplies primates to laboratories—plans to capture monkeys from their homes in Mauritius, hold them captive in Puerto Rico, and then sell thousands of their babies for use in painful and deadly experiments around the world.
You can read Benicio's full letter here. To write your own respectful letter to the governor to ask him to stop Bioculture, please click here.
Written by Amanda Schinke
According to news reports out of Nepal, that country's forest minister, Dipak Bohara, has "imposed a ban on monkey breeding for export to the United States for biomedical research."
This could be an important first step toward ending the grotesque breeding-and-export trade in monkeys once and for all.
The next step is for the Nepali government to listen to the coalition of animal protection groups (including PETA India) that has been urging the government to rehabilitate the hundreds of monkeys at a breeding center in Lele and to pass a law that would halt all commercial wildlife breeding.
We hope Nepal's action also inspires officials in Puerto Rico to block plans by Bioculture to build a monkey-breeding facility there. But in case they're not paying attention to Nepali news—and, let's face it, many folks aren't—please be sure to add your voice to the growing chorus opposing the construction of Bioculture's facility.
Beach bums everywhere agree that Puerto Rico's beaches are heavenly, but the island will become hell on earth for thousands of monkeys if a massive primate-breeding facility is approved.
PETA is taking no time off in our efforts to shoot down the proposal by Bioculture, a company that breeds and sells monkeys to foreign laboratories, where they will suffer abusive handling, months of confinement in metal cages, and forced dosings of toxic chemicals (remember Covance, anyone?). The latest efforts include working to get our new billboard erected in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
There's more to come, so stay tuned.
This guy wasn't monkeying around when he and 300 animal defenders recently descended upon Guayama, Puerto Rico (aka "Pueblo de los Brujos" or "city of witches"), to condemn the proposed construction of a Bioculture monkey-breeding facility within city limits.
This plan is driving everyone—from PETA to local citizens—bananas because Bioculture reportedly wants to use the facility to breed wild monkeys and sell their babies for use in painful and cruel experiments. Even Guayama's mayor, Glorimari Jaime, is opposed to the facility's construction. Halfway through the protest, she came out of her office, stood on a bench, and told the group that she was on their side—and that she would support and join in civil disobedience with them.
The protest was picked up by media across the city, so my guess is that Puerto Rican governor Luis G. Fortuño has already caught wind of the public's outrage. Yesterday, we sent him a letter calling on him to halt consideration of the Bioculture facility—hopefully it will be the final nudge he needs to prevent its construction.
Our hats are off to the hundreds of caring people who have voiced their opposition to Bioculture—please join them.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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