The macaque monkeys used in the research have been severely damaged by their captivity, both mentally and physically. They are psychotic, broken, and defeated.
DAVE BURKE: Harrowing footage shows traumatised monkeys gripping the bars of their cages and appearing to pull out their hair and poke their own eyes inside US labs. The distressing video was released by animal rights activists, who say it demonstrates the horrific conditions animals are forced to live in while “hideous” research is carried out. Monkeys are shown trapped inside metal cages, with experts saying their behaviour demonstrates the effects of the “loneliness and psychosis” they endure.
The animals have been described as “broken, defeated, defenseless monkeys” who were separated from their mothers at birth. Activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) shared the clip after after being given hours of footage from research following a lengthy court battle. The group had launched legal action to see video of experiments led by the University of Massachusetts’ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences department.
Their demand was finally granted last year, and the clip has been compiled from more than 40 hours taken in labs… PETA said the video only gives a snapshot of the monotony of the monkeys’ lives. Experiments allegedly include studying their response to strangers staring at them for long periods of time… PETA primatologist Lisa Jones-Engel – who branded the experiments “useless” – said in a statement: “The macaques used in this research had already been severely damaged — both mentally and physically – by their captivity… They are unnatural, broken, defeated, defenseless monkeys”…
In a statement PETA said: “Solitary confinement is the bleakest and most inhumane of circumstances… Kept in austere cages barely larger than themselves, sensitive and naturally social monkeys suffer from profound loneliness and psychosis. They pace, pull out their own hair, and bite themselves in desperate attempts to fill the utter impoverishment of their lives with any kind of stimulation”… And the worrying behaviour – including circling and backflipping – continues even when no experiments are being carried out…
PETA filed a lawsuit demanding to see video of the experiments involving rhesus macaques, which have been doing on for around 20 years… The department has received more than $10 million – the equivalent of £8 million – in government funding. In a grant application by former head Melina Novak, who has since retired, said researchers wanted to learn about the pyschological impact of confinement. SOURCE…
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