Monkeys found ‘injured and terrified’ in blood-soaked plane crates en route to UK labs for animal tests

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Animal rights organisation Action for Primates described these cases as “the tip of the iceberg”, highlighting that between July 2022 and May 2023, 10 flights from Mauritius and Vietnam delivered macaques to the UK via European airports. open image in gallery Last year, 80 long-tailed macaques were flown in a plane’s hold that was just 10C Sarah Kite, co-founder of Action for Primates, said: “Shipped as cargo, primates are forced to spend many hours confined in small single transit crates and may have to endure poor ventilation, unfamiliar and loud noise, temperature fluctuations and delays en route as they are shipped around the globe.” However, the Understanding Animal Research organisation says experiments involving non-humans have provided many treatments for conditions such as cancer and diabetes as well as human vaccines. An airport spokesperson said that, like other airports, it could not take a stance on the import of any cargo, adding: “There are clear laws, set by government, that define what can and cannot be brought into the UK as cargo, and it would not be appropriate for the airport to act independently of those laws.” open image in gallery More than 10 shipments were imported in a year The Belgian government said: “In our opinion, there was no failure. open image in gallery An animal welfare inspector stated no animals were wounded While they are not believed to have received the monkeys in the latest incident, some of the leading institutions conducting animal research include the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, the Francis Crick Institute, University of Edinburgh, UCL, the Medical Research Council and Imperial College London.