All monkeys at a NASA research center died on the same day last year, according to documents obtained through a request for the Freedom of Information Act.
In all, 27 primates from the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, were euthanized on Feb. 2, 2019, The Guardian reported.
The animals were older and most had Parkinson’s disease, but animal rights activists have condemned the decision not to find them a home.
They were not used in research, but were hosted by a private drug research company that rented space in Ames.
A member of Congress has called for an investigation into why the animals were slaughtered.
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All the monkeys (archive photo) of a NASA research center died on the same day last year, according to documents obtained through a request for the Freedom of Information Act
The animals “suffered from the ethological deprivations and frustrations inherent in laboratory life,” said animal ethics expert John Gluck, who criticized their “elimination rather than the expression of mere decency.”
“Shame on those responsible,” Gluck told the newspaper.
U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice (D-NY) told the Guardian she was pushing for “human retirement policies” for test animals in government labs.
Rice asked NASA chief Jim Bridenstine to investigate mass euthanasia.
In total, 27 primates from the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, were euthanized on February 2, 2019 (stock)
“I look forward to an explanation from Administrator Bridenstine as to why these animals were forced to be wasted in captivity and euthanized instead of living their lives in a sanctuary,” Rice told the Guardian.
Brindistine’s 2017 nomination by President Donald received bipartisan criticism because of his lack of experience in science or engineering and his past denial of man-made climate change.
The US first killed a monkey in the name of space exploration in 1948, a full decade before the formation of NASA: Albert, a rhesus monkey, was launched nearly 39 miles into the atmosphere aboard ‘a V2 rocket.
He drowned during his journey, although scientists said it was so they could learn about the physiological effects of space travel.
Albert II, another rhesus monkey, survived his 83-kilometer rocket a year later, but died after a parachute dropped his capsule against Earth.
They were not used in research, but were hosted by a private drug research company that rented space in Ames. A member of Congress has called for an investigation into why the animals were abandoned (stock phot)
But euthanized apes in central Silicon Valley weren’t used to delving into aeronautics. They weren’t even owned by NASA.
There they were kept by LifeSource BioMedical, a private drug research company that had rented space on the site.
LifeSource BioMedical director Stephanie Solis says the company had agreed to take the monkeys years ago, after their age and declining health made it impossible to find a home for them.
“We agreed to accept the animals, acting as a sanctuary and providing all care at our own expense, until their advanced age and diminished health resulted in a decision of human euthanasia to avoid a poor quality of life. “, he said.
Solis said LifeSource never conducted research on the animals and insisted they had a “good quality of life remaining.”
A NASA spokesman told the Guardian that the agency “has no non-human primates at NASA facilities or funded by NASA.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2017 alone biomedical researchers used a record 76,000 monkeys.
But the U.S. government has moved away from using primates in experiments.
As a result, researchers say there is a shortage to test potential vaccines against COVID-19, according to The Atlantic.
The National Institutes of Health stopped using chimpanzees in 2015, and although scientists had been able to obtain ape subjects from China, the pandemic shut down animal exports.