Monkey Trade Outrage
Mike Hancock is demanding a Government investigation into how wild monkeys are being illegally trapped and plundered from the forests of South East Asia.
An undercover investigation by the British Union for Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) found horrendous conditions and the "factory farming of macaquee monkeys taking place on an industrial scale."
They said that monkey were kept in rows of chain-linked pens whose floors were made of concrete or suspended wire. They also found that infants were taken from their mothers aged six months causing extreme distress to both.
Non-human primates can only be imported into the UK from firms that have been inspected and approved by British firms. But Mike Hancock says that there is a loophole in the regulations. While the firms actually doing the exported are inspected, the companies they get them from are not.
Now the MP, a leading campaigner on animal welfare is demanding an investigation by the Government.
Mike said: "I would prefer to see a big reduction on animal experiments anyway. But if they are to be imported, it must be done in the most humane way possible.
"And it seems that the rules are being flouted here. That's why I want the Government to look into the situation and take action. "
Please support Mike's petition at: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/monkeytrade
