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Crypt, Timon, Batman, River and Mars have spent years in a laboratory, their lives being tested for the benefit of human health.
But these rhesus macaques have paid their dues and now live in retirement – in larger enclosures that let them venture out, eat lettuce and carrots, plunge their fingers into pools colored plastic, paint and hang on pipes and tires – in relative calm.
More and more research labs are abandoning primates in sanctuaries such as Primates Inc., a 7-hectare rural community in central Wisconsin, where they can live for the past few years, according to sanctuaries and researchers.
For some monkeys, it's their first time in fresh air.
Bella, the vervet monkey, looks at the camera at Primates Inc. in Westfield, Wisconsin. In addition to Bella, who was previously a pet, the sanctuary has five rhesus macaque monkeys that were previously used in medical research. More and more research labs are removing primates from sanctuaries such as Primates Inc
"Just to watch them look around with astonishment. You know everything was very quiet and peaceful, "said Amy Kerwin, who worked 15 years to create the Westfield, Wisconsin shrine after being employed in a research lab at the University of Wisconsin.
According to the most recent data available from the United States Department of Agriculture, there were about 110,000 primates in research facilities in 2017.
While most research facilities require the euthanasia of primates to examine their tissues, technological advances, such as brain scans, involve reducing the number of monkeys.
In addition, researchers who are closer to animals do more to give those who can survive a retirement than euthanasia.
In 2015, a group of researchers, postgraduate students and an ethicist created the Research Animal Retirement Foundation.
It raises funds for labs to pay sanctuaries for retirement. So far, they have awarded $ 33,000 to three monkeys who went to the Wisconsin Shrine.
A visit to the Sanctuary of Pacific Primates in Indiana convinced representative Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., To draft a bill introduced last month, in collaboration with Brendan Boyle, representative of D-Penn., Demanding that federal agencies develop an animals are no longer needed for research to be adopted or placed in sanctuaries.
At the moment, no federal regulation dictates what happens to them. Some are sold to other studies when a study is completed.
River, left, and Timon, both Rhesus macaques, sit in an outdoor enclosure at Primates Inc. in Westfield, Wisconsin. It's a sanctuary that counts up to now five rhesus macaque monkeys that were previously used in medical research and a vervet monkey to be a pet
Amy Kerwin feeds Mars at Primates Inc. in Westfield, Wisconsin. Kerwin opened the sanctuary, which took its first monkeys in 2018.
The bill does not address funding, one of the main obstacles to the entry of primates into retirement sanctuaries.
At the present time, grants awarded through the National Institutes of Health, which is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, do not include money. for retirement.
This leaves laboratories and sanctuaries to find the tens of thousands of dollars per monkey per year needed to maintain them.
The monkeys are finished with studies at different ages and some can live for decades. Some may also leave with persistent problems, such as compulsive behavior caused by boredom.
That's why many sanctuaries require labs to send funds, often between $ 10,000 and $ 20,000, to help heal and create space for monkeys.
Since many primates have only lived in laboratories, they do not have the skills to live in the wild.
Chimpanzees, Capuchins and squirrel monkeys make up the majority of primates in accredited sanctuaries, according to Erika Fleury, program director of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, or NAPSA, a captive primate rights group.
They come from research, the entertainment industry or private homes.
Chimpanzees are no longer used in most research. The NIH announced in 2013 that they would stop supporting them in research and that they should be transferred to sanctuaries with funding.
He pointed out that a 2011 Institute of Medicine report had concluded that the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research was useless.
Izzle likes to look at people in mirrors, according to Kerwin. Researchers who are closer to animals do more to give those who can survive a retirement than euthanasia
Cindy Buckmaster, president of the Americans for Medical Progress Association, which represents research universities and medical research companies, said researchers are worried about sanctuary standards, their financial viability and the whether some sanctuary links with animal rights groups would shame them. l & # 39; institution.
"We are really grateful to them and we want them to have a wonderful life afterwards," Buckmaster said.
They deserve it. But it must be done right and properly because we will not put our animals in danger. & # 39;
Some animal rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, do not support research, but are in agreement with withdrawing monkeys from sanctuaries rather than having them euthanized.
Shrines have existed for decades but, in 2010, more than half a dozen came together to create NAPSA.
Currently, there are eight sanctuaries members, with about 775 primates. Membership requires sanctuaries to be accredited by the USDA, accredited by the World Federation of Animal Sanctuaries or certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, among many guidelines.
The monkeys are finished with studies at different ages and some can live for decades. Some may also leave with persistent problems, such as compulsive behavior caused by boredom. That's why many sanctuaries require labs to send funds
According to NAPSA, 31 other non-member sanctuaries in the United States and Canada have primates but apply a variety of standards.
In addition to demanding high standards for sanctuaries, NAPSA is also stepping up its efforts with researchers to encourage them to seek funding for their retirement from the outset.
An NIH spokesperson did not want to know if the agency would consider adding money to the retirement care subsidies for monkeys, she simply stated in a statement. communicated that the owners of the animals are responsible for continuing care.
Kerwin, who opened the Wisconsin sanctuary, said he saw monkeys calm down in retirement. His goal is to have 100 monkeys over the next 20 years.
"The simple fact of knowing that these little personalities are counted in thousands and that hardly anyone knows them or even the need to help them. That's why I think it's important, she said.
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