Animal testing behemoth Charles River Laboratories is one of the largest importers of monkeys into the U.S., each year bringing in thousands of monkeys – mostly long-tailed macaques – from Southeast Asia and Mauritius. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified long-tailed macaques as “endangered,” identifying the U.S. experimentation industry as a major driver pushing these monkeys toward extinction.

In November 2022, PETA filed a shareholder resolution with Charles River to request more transparency – calling on the company to report on the species, country of origin and number of monkeys it imports into the U.S. and to report any measures it takes to mitigate its impact on monkeys’ dwindling wild populations. (A similar resolution at Laboratory Corporation of America asks about mitigating public health risks.)

As PETA was submitting its resolution, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted Cambodian officials and nationals for allegedly falsely labeling and selling wild-caught long-tailed macaques as captive-bred – felony violations of both the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act. In February 2023, the DoJ subpoenaed Charles River for possible violations of the law involving the importation of monkeys.

Charles River is a major player, supporting a violent and secretive industry that’s fueling the illicit trade in endangered monkeys. The billion-dollar industry – composed of trappers, international breeders, commercial importers, airlines and U.S. domestic trucking companies – is increasingly turning a blind eye to monkey laundering as the price “per tail” for end users reaches thousands of dollars.

The monkey pipeline begins in forested areas of Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mauritius and Vietnam, where hunters trap mother monkeys, pry their babies away and stuff them into bags and cram the mothers – along with any of the other troop members who have survived being captured – into crates. Some will be sold directly to U.S. laboratories, while others will end up on commercial monkey factory farms first, where the mothers will be forced to live and breed in squalid conditions.

The monkeys are then crammed into small wooden crates and loaded onto planes for a dark and terrifying flight, festering in their own urine and feces. Once on U.S. soil, the monkeys are loaded into unmarked trucks and transported sometimes hundreds of miles on public roads to quarantine sites.

Such confinement and transportation wreak havoc on monkeys’ immune systems. Documents obtained by PETA show that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) knew that imported monkeys, stressed and traumatized during a grueling international journey, were arriving infected with tuberculosis and other “unknown/indetermined” viruses that cause diarrhea so violent that it sheds the lining of the gut. The documents revealed that between 2019 and 2021, hundreds of monkeys that were imported into the United States and underwent quarantine exhibited gastrointestinal diseases and “[i]llness that may be of public health concern such as clinical signs consistent with filovirus [Ebola-like viruses] infection, confirmed Shigella and Campylobacter infection and malaria.”

Charles River’s role in the international primate trade threatens wild populations of monkeys, causes immeasurable pain and misery to monkeys and threatens public health – all of which pose reputational and legal risk to the company. The situation demands transparency and accountability.

Alka Chandna
Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Cases at PETA